Matt Brown, one of the stars of Discovery‘s Alaskan Bush Peopledied at the age of 43.
His brother Bear announced the news in a TikTok video posted Saturday evening, saying a body had been found in a nearby river and had been positively identified as Matt.
Their brother Noah Brown was there and helped pull him out of the water.
Bear said the death appeared to be “self-inflicted,” although he noted the coroner had yet to make a formal decision.
“Honestly, I never would have suspected he would get hurt,” Bear said in the video.
“He struggled for a long time, as I mentioned. I was so afraid he would end up overdosing or something, I didn’t think he would get hurt. It seems like the injury was self-inflicted.”
Bear also took a moment to ask viewers for compassion following the news.
“Please be respectful to my family and to my mother. And please watch the comments you guys leave. Sometimes words can hurt more than fists,” he said, noting that negative comments had been left on Matt’s previous social media posts.
Matt Brown appeared in 79 episodes of Alaskan Bush People during the first eight seasons of the series, from 2014 to 2019.
The series followed Matt, his parents and six siblings as they lived off-grid in Alaska and became a major hit for Discovery.
He had spoken openly about his personal struggles in recent years.
