Matt Brown, a former cast member of Discovery’s Alaskan Bush People, has died aged 43, his brother Bear Brown confirmed on May 31, per deadline.com.
His body was recovered from the Okanogan River in Washington state after an apparent suicide.
Bear Brown said in a TikTok video posted Saturday night that Matt’s body was found in the river hours earlier and positively identified. He stated their brother Noah Brown was present and helped pull him from the water.
The Okanogan County Sheriff’s Office said it received a 911 call Wednesday reporting a man sitting in shallow water in the Okanogan River south of Oroville, Washington. The caller later saw the man face down in the water drifting away. A firearm was recovered from the water where he was last seen. A search was suspended at 4pm Thursday due to severe weather.
Bear Brown said the injury appeared self-inflicted, though a coroner’s examination is pending. He added that Matt had struggled with drugs and alcohol “for a very long time” and he had been increasingly worried about him.
In his video, Bear asked followers to be respectful to his family and mother. He noted Matt had spoken in a recent post about negative comments he received online, adding “people on the other side of the screen… they’re real people too.”
Matt Brown appeared on Alaskan Bush People for eight seasons from 2014 to 2019. He was the eldest child of Billy and Ami Brown, who featured with their family in the Discovery docuseries about life off the grid. Billy Brown died of a seizure aged 68 in 2021.
Alaskan Bush People followed the Brown family’s attempts to live self-sufficiently in remote areas of Alaska and later Washington. The series ran for 14 seasons.
•Featured image: Matt Brown/Instagram
