“I am still most proud of being Ian’s mom,” says Regina King. IRL host Angie Martinez asks the Academy Award-winning actress what makes her most proud of her body of work, and King, without hesitation, speaks of her son, Ian Alexander Jr., who passed away by suicide in January 2022 at the age of 26.

“It’s hard for me to remember life before he was born, says King. The director says, “It’s crazy, so many things are related to, ‘Oh, that’s when Ian lost his first tooth.’ So, you know moments are connected to his growing moments.”

The 227 alum says she is figuring out her ‘new relationship’ with her late son. Part of it took years after her son’s death, when the concept of creating a wine came into play, stemming from a conversation with “her man,” as King references her love in the interview. “Every time you say, me and you, you say Ian’s name, King recalls the conversation with her love to Angie.  The orange wine, MianU, is a beautiful tribute to a mother-son relationship, where King jokes that she and Ian called each other “Co” as nicknames, such as the example co-creator.

Courtesy IRL

King’s acting resume spans from movies like Friday, Poetic Justice, Ray, A Thin Line Between Love, Hate, Legally Blonde 2: Red, White and Blue and Shirley Chisholm, to television in American Crime and Watchmen, to as a director in One Night in Miami, which has revered King as one of the industry’s most talented and well-respected artists of her generation.

But no accolade, old or new, including her latest body of work, Caught Stealing, comes close to the love King will forever hold for her son, to which Angie says, “You’re a warrior for sure.” King nods and acknowledges the same in the lifetime and what she believes was a lifetime before.

Full episode of “Award winning actress Regina King joins Angie Martinez in a powerful and in depth conversation on life.”

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Source: IRL/YouTube