In her first interview since Stephen “tWitch” Boss‘ death in Dec. 2022, the late TV personality’s mom, Connie Alexander Boss, spoke to PEOPLE about her son’s suicide on Jun. 28. “I’d been sick, so he texted to ask how I was feeling,” the proud mother said of her and Stephen’s last text conversation. “That was the last time we talked. To the extent that Stephen may have been in a Black depression — no, not Stephen. He was so in tune with analyzing and trying to make himself better, reading self-help books, so this came as a complete shock.”
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Connie, who is a mother to three sons (including the late 40-year-old), added that time often feels warped when thinking of Stephen. “Sometimes it feels like it was just yesterday, and then other times it feels like it’s been so long since I’ve seen him,” she said. The city supervisor went on to share where she finds “peace” in the plethora of grief. “When I think about him, I try not to dwell on how he left this earth,” Connie explained. “This is not totally the end. That is where my peace comes from.”
Stephen’s mother went on to share that she originally thought that, “something had happened to him,” rather than him taking his own life. Connie said that suicide “was not my first thought — that it had been his hand. I really thought something had happened to him.” In addition, she recalled the moment that she was told that the late father-of-three had died. “I went to my parents’ house and walked in. They were just standing there looking at me, and I said, ‘Have you heard something?'”, she told the outlet. “All I remember hearing was, ‘Connie, he’s gone.’ And I remember screaming or falling to my knees. The rest of the day is more of a blur.”
Toward the end of Connie’s interview with PEOPLE, she shared that can sometimes still “hear” her son. “You find yourself in a lot of introspection, a lot of looking back. Did I miss something? Did he mean something when he said this?” she said. “At this point, I’m in realization, I guess. When I wake up in the morning, it does hit me that, oh my God, he really is not physically here. But then in my head I can hear him say, ‘Hey, Mom. I’m OK.'” Connie revealed that Stephen’s last text message to her read “I love you, Mom,” to which she replied, “I love you more.”
Her son was most known for appearing on The Ellen DeGeneres Show as the former show’s DJ and sidekick to comedian Ellen DeGeneres. On Dec. 13, 2022, Los Angeles Police Department Sergeant Borihana told HollywoodLife that police responded to an ambulance call to a local motel in connection to his death. “The decedent’s death was ruled a suicide and no foul play was involved. The body was handed over to the LA County Coroner,” the police said at the time. The following day, it was revealed that Stephen died from a self-inflicted “gunshot wound to the head”, according to the coroner’s report from the Los Angeles County Medical Examiner.
As many know, tWitch was married to Allison Holker, 35, and the former couple welcomed three kids together. Their family includes Weslie, 14, Maddox, 7, and Zaia, 3. Most recently, on Jun. 18, the 35-year-old took to Instagram to share a throwback photo with her late husband and children. “We love you Stephen forever and always,” she penned in the bittersweet caption.