Actress Regina King ends 2024 with a tribute to her late son

Actress Regina King says goodbye to 2024 with a touching tribute to his late son.

The Oscar-winning actress and star of Netflix's smash “The Harder They Fall” made a special Instagram post on Christmas Day to honor Ian Alexander, Jr., recording artist and King's only child.

Alexander unfortunately took his own life in January 2022.

Using Alexandra's career as a music artist for inspiration, King went on to share seven of her favorite albums from the past year on the social media app.

Captioning her Instagram post, the “Shirley” star explained that the number of albums means a lot to her and her late son.

“As we close out the year, I wanted to share my seven favorite albums of 2024,” King wrote.

“Why 7?” she continued: “As seven is Ian's favorite number and the number to complete – the perfect way to reflect on the events of the past year.”

Some of her picks included Kendrick Lamar's recent “GNX,” Tyler the Creator's “Chromakopia,” Willow Smith's “Empathogen,” and the soundtrack to the biblical comedy “The Book of Clarence.”

King closed her post with a warm welcome to the holiday.

“Wishing you and your families the faith to believe, the energy to create and the love to sustain a peaceful and joyful holiday season. May this faith, love and joy carry you into the new year and beyond.

On January 21, 2022, the entertainment world was rocked by the sudden death of King's son, Ian Alexander, Jr., aged just 26.

Writers for Love B. Scottentertainment blog, were the first to report the sad news with a post that was felt by many was insensitiveespecially since King herself had not spoken on the matter.

A backlash ensued and the post was eventually removed.

A day later, King fired a notification through her representative, confirming the tragic news.

“Our family has been devastated at the deepest level by the loss of Ian,” it said.

“He is such a bright light who cared so much about the happiness of others. Our family asks for respect during this private time.

In addition to being a recording artist, Alexander was also a disc jockey. He often performed under the stage name Desduné.

Less than two weeks before his death, he released his last single, “Green Eyes”.

Following the loss, King will take a two-year hiatus from acting.

She will slowly step back into the spotlight in early 2024 with “Shirley,” a Netflix production based on the life of Shirley Chisholm, the first black female vice presidential candidate.

In an interview with “Good Morning America” ​​that aired in March, King opened up about losing Alexander and how it affected her moving forward.

“I'm a different person now than I was on January 19,” she told Robin Roberts, referring to the actual date of Ian's death.

“I understand that sadness is love that has nowhere to go. I know that it is important for me to honor Ian as a whole, who he is, to talk about him in the present, because he is always with me. The joy and happiness that he gave us all .”

Although time would allow her to process Ian's choice, King admitted that it was not so easy to do so.

“I respect and understand that he didn't want to be here anymore,” the actress said, “and it's hard for other people to accept that because they didn't go through what we went through, (or) didn't live Ian's journey. So angry at God, why should Ian be given that weight?” ?

A week after the GMA sit-in, King visited “Jimmy Kimmel Live” to promote “Shirley.”

The talk show host, known for his wit and sarcasm, instead graciously greeted the actress, asking how she was feeling at the moment.

With a genuine smile, she replied, “I'm fine now.”

Kimmel then tried to acknowledge King's difficult year, only to be choked up along the way. This would make the actress reach for his hand.

“Nice to see you, Jim,” she continued.

After a moment he replied, “Nice to see you too.”

Speaking to Roberts, King revealed that she was tired of focusing on Ian's passing and instead wanted to celebrate the time she had with him.

“My favorite thing about myself is being Ian's mom,” she noted, continuing, “I know it's important for me to honor Ian as a whole, to talk about him in the present because he's always with me. The joy and happiness he brought to all of us .”