Regina King has returned to the red carpet for the first time since the tragic death of her son, Ian Alexander Jr., in January.
The actress, 51, was an honoree at Filming Italy Festival’s awards ceremony, held in the Sicilian village of Santa Margherita di Pula. She was asked to be at the event as a recipient of the festival’s Women in Power prize, which she co-won with her friend Naomie Harris.
Many of King’s fans took to social media to express their relief in seeing the “Boyz n the Hood” actress back in action.
“So good to see Regina again, sending her Love and Light.😍😊💗💗,” one person tweeted.
“Just heartbreaking. Shows her strength,” wrote another.
There also seemed to be an implicit understanding among an adjacent cohort of social media spectators as to the magnitude of grief following the loss of a child.
“I am still praying for her,” posted Twitter user @Carilia1.
As previously reported, Ian Alexander Jr. died by suicide mere days before his 26th birthday.
A series of tweets on Jan. 14 — that would become Ian’s final social media posts — suggested he may have been feeling increasingly overwhelmed mentally, with one stating, “I don’t think instagram is healthy for me.”
Another alluded to a SpongeBob SquarePants episode in which “they go inside his brain and it’s a bunch of mini spongebobs just losing their s- -t…..yea that one really hits home.”
Prior to his passing, Ian was just starting to gain recognition as a promising, young DJ on-the-rise.