"Alaskan Bush People" Star Matt Brown Found Dead at 42
Matt Brown, a reality television personality known for his appearances on Discovery Channel's Alaskan Bush People, has died. He was 42. His body was found in a river in northern Washington state on Saturday, May 30.
His brother Bear Brown announced the news in a TikTok video Saturday evening, visibly emotional as he addressed his followers. "They found a body in the river a few hours ago, and it was positively identified as being Matt," Bear said. "Noah was with him and helped pull him out of the water, and Noah identified him."
Bear indicated the death appeared to be a suicide, though he noted the coroner had not yet made a formal determination. "I would have never suspected he would have hurt himself, honestly," he said. "He struggled for a long time. I was so worried he was going to end up OD'd or something like that. I didn't think he would hurt himself."
Who Matt Brown Was
Brown was one of the original cast members of Alaskan Bush People, which followed the Brown family as they lived off the grid in the Alaskan wilderness. The show became a ratings success for Discovery Channel and ran for 14 seasons, ending in 2022. Brown appeared in 79 episodes across the show's first eight seasons, from 2014 to 2019.
The series presented the Brown family — parents Billy and Ami and their seven children — as a tight-knit unit navigating an unconventional life far removed from modern society. In reality, the family's cohesion frayed significantly in the years after the show's peak. Matt Brown became increasingly estranged from his relatives as his struggles with addiction deepened.
He had been open about those struggles, documenting parts of his recovery journey on YouTube. In the period before his death, Bear said he had run into Matt at a Walmart shortly before Bear left for a trip to Florida — a brief, unexpected encounter that now carries different weight.
A Family Already Marked by Loss
Matt Brown's death is the second major loss in the Brown family in recent years. Billy Brown, the patriarch of Alaskan Bush People and the emotional center of the show, died in February 2021 at age 68 after suffering a seizure. The family announced his death at the time with a statement saying he was "our best friend — a wonderful and loving dad, granddad and husband."
Bear closed his TikTok announcement with a request for kindness. "Please be respectful to my family and to my mom," he said. "Sometimes words can hurt more than fists can."
A coroner's determination has not yet been made public. Matt Brown was 42 years old.
If you or someone you know is struggling, please reach out to the 988 Suicide and Crisis Lifeline by calling or texting 988. Help is available 24 hours a day, 7 days a week.
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