Matt Brown Dead: ‘Alaskan Bush People’ Star Was 42

Matt Brown, star of the Discovery docudrama series “Alaskan Bush People,” has died. He was 43.

Matt Brown’s death was announced by his brother, Bear, in a TikTok video posted Saturday night. Bear said his sibling’s body was found in a nearby river and that the cause of death looked like suicide.

“This is an update about Matt,” he said. “They found a body in the river a few hours ago, and it was positively identified as being Matt. Noah [Brown] was with him and helped pull him out of the water, and Noah identified him.”

Bear added, “I would have never suspected he would have hurt himself, honestly. He struggled for a long time, as I’ve mentioned. I was so worried he was gonna end up OD’ed or something like that, I didn’t think that he would hurt himself. It does look as though the injury is self-inflicted. Obviously, the coroner still has to look at him and stuff, but I thought that y’all guys should know that it is him.”

Matt Brown and his family were featured in the first eight seasons of “Alaskan Bush People,” which followed him, his parents and his six siblings as they lived off the grid in Alaska. Brown starred in 79 episodes from 2014 to 2019.

In his post on Saturday, Bear urged viewers to “please be respectful to my family and to my mom. And please, watch the comments that you leave, guys. Sometimes, words can hurt more than fists can.” He also noted that “a lot of people have logged negative comments” on Matt Brown’s previous social media activity.