The reality TV star’s brother Bear Brown recently said Matt struggled with addiction and had become estranged from his family.

Matt Brown.Credit: Matt Brown/Instagram

Alaskan Bush People star Matt Brown was found dead at 42.
His brother Bear Brown said Matt had a history of addiction and had become estranged from his family.
Matt appeared on early seasons of the reality show but stepped away to enter rehab.

Matt Brown, the reality TV personality known for his time on the Discovery Channel series Alaskan Bush People, has been found dead in Washington. He was 42.

“They found a body in the river a few hours ago, and it was positively identified as being Matt,” his brother Bear Brown, 38, said in a video posted on Instagram late Saturday night into Sunday morning.

Matt was the eldest of Billy and Ami Brown’s seven children. (He had an elder half sister from his father’s earlier relationship.)

Bear went on to detail that their youngest brother, Noah, 33, was with there when Matt’s body was found and helped authorities pull it out of the water. Noah identified him.

“I would have never suspected he would have hurt himself, honestly,” Bear said. “He struggled for a long time, as I’ve mentioned. And I worried he was going to end up, like, OD’d or something like that. I didn’t think he would hurt himself.”

He continued, “It does look as thought 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.”

The news comes after Brown’s family revealed that they feared the worst.

“I’m being told that late last night … Matt took his own life,” Bear said in an emotional TikTok video on Thursday. “Like I said, I can’t confirm that that’s true, but witnesses say that he was seen in a river, at a river, or close to a river, and that he took his own life and they saw him, like, floating down the river.”

Bear added that Matt had a history of addiction and had become estranged from his family. “He has been struggling for a long time, you know, with alcohol and drugs and stuff,” Bear said. “And he has done a lot of stuff that people, like, don’t even know about. Everyone thinks that the family has, like, shunned him and won’t have anything to do with him, but that’s not actually the case. He didn’t want anything to do with the family.”

Matt Brown.Matt Brown/Instagram

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The Okanogan County Sheriff’s Office in Washington detailed its investigation into an unidentified man in a press release on Thursday. “A caller reported to Okanogan 911 that he had just spoken to a male sitting in the shallow water of the Okanogan River south of Oroville,” the release read. “The caller turned away from the man sitting in the river, heard a sound, turned back toward the man in the water, and saw the man was face down in the water drifting away in the current.”

The release also noted that “a firearm was recovered from the water in the area where the male was last seen.” At the time, OCSO said the identity of the man at the center of the investigation had not been confirmed.

Along with Bear and their other family members, Matt became known to television audiences when he appeared on the docudrama-style show Alaskan Bush People, which followed the extended Brown clan as they attempted to live off the grid in the remote wilderness, removed from modern society. The show aired for 14 seasons, from 2014 to 2022.

Matt participated in early seasons of Alaskan Bush People. He entered rehab in 2016.

“I could see myself spiraling,” he told PEOPLE that year, adding that he was nervous about coming clean to his family about his drinking. “There was a lot of anxiety. It took a couple days to work up the guts to tell my parents. But their support was unbelievable. It instantly made me feel better and like I could be successful on this journey.”

Matt relapsed and exited Alaskan Bush People in 2019 while still struggling with substance abuse as well as growing tension with his family.

Search for man believed to be ‘Alaskan Bush People’ star Matt Brown suspended after reports that he took his own life

‘Alaskan Bush People’ star Bear Brown opens up about dad Billy’s death: ‘He was my best friend’

When he announced Matt’s death, Bear cautioned people about “negativity” online and asked that they be considerate of his family in the comments.

“I ask people to please, please be respectful to my family and to my mom, and please watch the comments that you leave, guys,” he said in the video. “Sometimes words can hurt more than fists can, and a lot of people left a lot negative comments on Matt’s stuff, too. In one of his last videos, he’s actually talking about how negative people were on his posts. And y’all guys should keep in mind that people on the other side of your screen, people that you’re watching that video of, they are real people too.”

Bear continued, “I know a lot of y’all guys have helped a lot as well, and have been with my family for a long time … I appreciate that, and my family appreciates that as well, but I wanted to do this video to let y’all guys know. For everyone that knew him, you deserve to know.”

If you or someone you know is struggling with mental health challenges, emotional distress, substance use problems, or just needs to talk, call or text 988, or chat at 988lifeline.org 24/7.