Matt Brown, 'Alaskan Bush People' Reality Star, Dies at 42

Matt Brown, a popular reality star remembered for "Alaskan Bush People," has died at 42 in Washington state.

His brother Bear Brown, clearly deeply grieving, posted a video to Instagram in which he broke the sad news.

"They found a body in the river a few hours ago and it was positively identified as being Matt," he said. Their brother Noah Brown was the person who identified the body.

"I would have never suspected he would have hurt himself, honestly," he said, referring to Brown's struggles with substance abuse while asserting the death was "self-inflicted."

Brown had been on the Discovery series from 2014-2019, left, and documented his journey to recovery on YouTube. Sadly, he was estranged from his family at the time of his death.

Shortly before his brother's death was confirmed, Bear told his followers he had run into his brother at a Walmart prior to Bear's departure for Florida. Of the chance encounter, he said, “He called me after that, and he said that he had fallen off the wagon. And I was like, ‘Well, get back on it, man. Everybody falls off. Just get back on it. Go to rehab if you’ve got to. You’ve got this.’”

Bear asked fans not to direct blame toward their mom, Ami Brown. “Please be respectful to the family, to my mom especially. Please don’t attack my mom. Mom cares very much for Matt and always has.”

Now that Matt's death is official, Bear is still urging followers and fans to show some common decency before popping off on social media.

"I would ask people to please, please be respectful to my family and my mom," Bear said, detailing how negative comments deeply affected Matt while he was alive, and reminding everyone that his family are real people who need space to come to terms with a tremendous loss.