Jimmy Kimmel tears up with Regina King after her son’s death by suicide

They’re both celebrities, but they shared a moment as parents. 

During Thursday night’s episode of “Jimmy Kimmel Live!” Kimmel, 56, had Regina King, 53, as his guest.

She was promoting her film “Shirley,” about Shirley Chisholm (now streaming on Netflix), and it was her first appearance on the ABC late-night show since her son’s death.  

Kimmel did not directly mention King’s late son, Ian Jr., who died by suicide at age 26 in January 2022.

But, it was implied that he was referring to that tragedy when he asked King, “It’s very good to see you. How are you doing right now?” 

“Right now, I’m good,” King said. 

“Good, I’m glad to hear that,” Kimmel said. “I know you’ve been through a lot the last year.”

Kimmel was visibly emotional and choked up. 

King reached out and held his hand during that moment. 

King’s son, Ian Alexander Jr., was King’s only child. She had him with her ex-husband, record producer Ian Alexander, who she was married to from 1997 to 2007. 

The “Watchmen” star paid tribute to Ian last year on Jan. 19 via social media. She revealed at the time that she was still “processing” the ordeal.

During an appearance on “Good Morning America” earlier this month, the Oscar-winning “If Beale Street Could Talk” actress said, “I’m a different person now than I was Jan. 19. Grief is a journey. I understand that.”

“Grief is love that has no place to go,” she continued. “And that we all handle it differently. I know that it’s important to me to honor Ian in the totality of who he is, speak about him in the present, because he is always with me and the joy and happiness that he gave all of us.”

She also said that people expect depression to “Look a certain way — they expect it to look heavy. To have to experience this and not be able to have the time to just sit with Ian’s choice, which I respect and understand … He didn’t want to be here anymore, and that’s a hard thing for other people to receive because they did not live our experience, did not live Ian’s journey.”

She added that she “was so angry with God” for the tragedy at one point.

“Why would that weight be given to Ian? Of all of the things that we had gone through — therapy, psychiatrists, programs — and Ian was like, ‘I’m tired of talking, Mom,’” she said about his mental health.

“Sometimes, a lot of guilt comes over me. When a parent loses a child, you still wonder, ‘What could I have done so that wouldn’t have happened?’ I know that I share this grief with everyone, but no one else is Ian’s mom, you know? Only me. So it’s mine. And the sadness will never go away. It will always be with me,” King reflected.

Kimmel has four kids. He has two adult children (Katie, 32, and Kevin, 30) with his ex-wife Gina Maddy, who he was married to from 1988 to 2002. He also shares Jane, 9, and Billy, 6, with his current wife, Molly McNearney, who he married in 2013. 

Kimmel has not experienced losing a child, however, his youngest son, Billy, who was born in 2017, had health struggles that Kimmel has opened up about. 

Billy was born with a rare birth heart defect, and in an emotional monologue in 2017, Kimmel shared on his show that watching his baby get cardiac surgery was, “A terrifying thing,” and “The longest three hours of my life.”