“I’m not hiding how much this hurts,” Tenisha Warner captioned a photo of 9-year-old daughter celebrating what would have been her father’s 56th birthday.

Malcolm-Jamal Warner’s wife and daughter mark actor’s birthday 1 year after his death: ‘We are breaking’

“I’m not hiding how much this hurts,” Tenisha Warner captioned a photo of 9-year-old daughter celebrating what would have been her father’s 56th birthday.

By Kathleen Perricone

August 18, 2026 9:44 p.m. ET

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Malcolm-Jamal Warner in Atlanta on Sept. 30, 2023. Credit:

Derek White/Getty

- Malcolm-Jamal Warner’s wife and 9-year-old daughter marked the late actor’s birthday on Tuesday, one year after his death.

- “We are breaking as we try to learn how to be here without him,” his widow captioned a photo of the little girl celebrating her father’s birthday.

- Tenisha Warner also announced she’s written a children’s book dedicated to her husband.

Malcolm-Jamal Warner’s wife and daughter carried on a family tradition to celebrate his 56th birthday on Tuesday.

Tenisha Warner shared a photo of her 9-year-old daughter with the late *Cosby Show* actor at home surrounded by dozens of stuffed animals standing in front of a “Happy Birthday” banner.

“Every year we spent his birthday at home, just the three of us,” Tenisha captioned the undated snapshot. “He always said that was all he needed because it brought him the most joy to begin every new year of his life with us. The only other guests were our daughter’s dolls and stuffed animals. Every single one was lined up in the dining room to celebrate with him.”

This birthday is actually the second since Warner accidentally drowned in Costa Rica on July 20, 2025, just weeks before he would have turned 55.

As another milestone passed, “we are breaking as we try to learn how to be here without him,” revealed Tenisha. “I’m not hiding how much this hurts. My gift to him includes my pain, because pain this deep only exists where love ran that deep. So today I’m sharing this with you who loved him too, the gift he gave us: he loved us with his whole heart, in ways I will never know again.”

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Warner’s widow, who recently sued his estate for $1.2 million, has channeled her grief in an illustrated children’s book, *The Feelings Doctor: Hidden Feelings*, which she dedicated to her late husband.

“I’ve been writing for a long time, long before this book, and building toward something like this was a conversation my husband and I had for years,” said Tenisha, a doctor of psychology, in an announcement she made the day before his birthday. “With this book, I’m not stepping into being an author. I’ve been one.”

Malcolm-Jamal and Tenisha Warner.

Amid the legal battle with her husband’s estate, which is managed by his mother Pamela Warner, a friend of Tenisha’s launched a GoFundMe campaign seeking $150,000 to support the grieving mother and daughter and their financial strain.

“Every single day she shows up for her child as though her own world had not fallen apart, and still makes sure breakfast is on the table,” wrote Destiny Rael, who claims she brought Malcolm and his wife together. “She has stretched every resource she has and borrowed from people who love her just to keep one foot in front of the other.”

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Referencing the lawsuit, which Tenisha filed on the one-year anniversary of her husband’s death, Rael continued, “You may assume that Malcolm-Jamal Warner’s career left his wife and daughter financially secure. That was his intention. Malcolm had worked with his attorneys to update his estate plan to provide for his wife and daughter, but he passed away before he could sign it. They thought they had time.”

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Source: “EW Celebrity”