Emotional Karamo Brown opens up about his son’s drug overdose for the first time

The 41-year-old Queer Eye star got serious with his audience on Thursday’s episode of his show Karamo, when he opened up about how he found his son in the middle of a drug overdose two years ago.

“Today I will be very vulnerable to all of you. It’s something I’ve never spoken about publicly,” Brown began.

“Almost two years ago I found my oldest son, Jason, lying on the floor dying of a drug overdose,” he shared. “And I was scared. I was about to lose my son. I did not know, what I should do. I was in shock.”

Karamo revealed he noticed his son Jason slipping after he stopped taking his calls and paying his bills. Things came to a head when the then 23-year-old missed his flight to see his mother in Texas and the TV personality went to his apartment to confront Jason about his behavior.

“When I got to the apartment, I went up the stairs and the door was ajar,” he recalled, adding that he initially thought his son had been robbed.

“I opened the door and it was a complete mess … the house was dirty and I saw my son lying on the floor in the litter box with foam coming out of his mouth,” he said tearfully.

“I don’t know if you’ve ever experienced addiction in your own life or with family members, but when you find out what’s going on and you realize what happened and you didn’t realize it – when you realize you could be losing someone , it kills you inside,” he added.

The now 25-year-old also appeared on the daytime TV show to tell his story of addiction and described the moment he first tried hard drugs.

“It all started…in college…” Jason began. “Dad, you gave me your car that night to go to a party, you told me the car has to get back here or this is my A– but I was way too exhausted and couldn’t drive. I wasn’t about to drive your car at the time and so someone came up to me and said, “Try this, it’s cocaine. It will sober you up, I promise you it will work.” It worked. I remember driving home and physically feeling like, ‘Oh, I need more.'”

Brown got emotional and asked his son why he didn’t feel like he could come over to him as the two seemed to have an honest relationship. The Real World graduate explained that he’s adopted a parenting style that allows for open dialogue rather than punishing lying.

“Why did you do that at that moment? [not] do you feel you could talk to me Why at this moment [didn’t] Do you think you could call me and say, ‘Hey dad, I screwed up,’ you know?” asked Karamo.

Jason admitted he “wasn’t thinking clearly” since he was under the influence and didn’t want to call to say he’d taken his dad’s car to a party with some college kids who were also under the influence .

“I was actually so relieved whenever you caught me…when you found me,” he continued. “I don’t know, I was really tired of how I was living and at some point I felt like I was suicidal. It was like a cry for help.”

Jason revealed he was battling depression at the time. “I haven’t spoken to you at all, mom, family. I just lost all kinds of connections with anyone and everyone I once loved except for drugs. That was the only thing I was obsessed with,” he explained.

He was also able to offer some comfort to his father after Karamo admitted he beat himself up for not noticing the signs of his addiction.

“Honestly, it was me, because I came to you every day and every time I saw you, every time I called you … I would present myself in the best light, ‘Hey! Dad ain’t nothing wrong with going here ‘ like really making sure you had no idea what was going on. I was on my Ps and Qs with it.

It wasn’t until Jason was 10 that Karamo found out he had fathered a son. In an interview with Parents, the reality star revealed that he only found out he was a father when he was subpoenaed for child support.

“My last girlfriend in high school — when I was 15 — got pregnant with my kid but didn’t tell me,” Karamo recalled. “I was confused, sad, angry and weirdly excited to be a father, but still felt lost.”

He later adopted Jason as well as Jason’s half-brother Chris.

Karamo has lived as a proud, openly gay man since his high school sweetheart, and was even engaged to longtime partner Ian Jordan from 2010 until their split in 2020. Brown has been in a relationship with Carlos Medel since 2021.

If you or someone you know is struggling with substance abuse, get help. That Substance Abuse and Mental Health Administration (SAMHSA) National Helpline (1-800-662-4357) provides 24/7 free and confidential support to people in need.