Smiley shared that Brandon struggled with addiction and went to rehab on more than one occasion. But before his death, his family thought he was turning a corner.

“He was struggling with that [drugs],” Smiley said. “His mother and I made several attempts to try to send him to get the help that he needed — send him to rehab … and we thought that he was doing better. He had just joined the church, and he had just gotten baptized, again, probably a month before he passed away.”

“He used, and it killed him,” Smiley added.

Earlier in the interview, Smiley remembered the unimaginably painful day he learned his son was gone.

“I was in Dallas in my apartment getting ready to watch the playoff and his girlfriend called. … She said that, in her words, she said that he had OD’d,” he said.

Smiley recounted dashing to the airport to get to Brandon. En route, he got a call from Brandon’s sister, Taylor.

“I got a phone call on my way out the door … that he had passed,” Smiley said. “She was crying.”

But when Smiley thinks about his son, he said he’s not solely consumed by memories of his death. He also shared about Brandon’s personality, calling him a “prankster” who had dreams of being in the spotlight.

“Fun. Funny. Always the leader, always the prankster,” Smiley said. “He was a great kid. He came to live with me at the end of his eighth-grade year. I wanted to, you know, have the opportunity to see him into his manhood. … I had him on stage when he was 7 years old. He wanted to perform. Just a great kid … a lot of fun.”

As Blavity noted, Brandon died in January and is survived by his 3-year-old daughter, Storm, his parents, brother, and three sisters.