A month after Rickey Smiley’s late son Brandon died of a drug overdose, the radio personality is speaking out about what he and his family believed happened.

Speaking with Today’s Craig Melvin on Thursday (March 2), the 54-year-old said his late child’s girlfriend called him after finding Brandon “unresponsive” on January 29, which he believes is the result of him “succumb[ing] to drug abuse.”

“She said that, in her words, that he had OD’d,” he shared.

Smiley then described receiving a second call while preparing for a flight to Georgia, this time from his daughter Taylor, who was crying and also let him know about Brandon’s death.

“He used, and it killed him,” he said before admitting he was “shocked but not surprised” by the tragedy and explained that he had “prepared … deep inside” for the possibility that Brandon would die from drug usage.

“His mother and I made several attempts to try to send him to get the help that he needed — send him to rehab,” he said. “We thought that he as doing better. He had just joined the church, and he had just gotten baptized again, probably a month before he passed away.”

Smiley also noted that he doesn’t know why or how Brandon became addicted to drugs as other members of his immediate family are “all clean and sober.”

“We just assume that if you’re in a good school district or you’re in a gated community or everything is going good that these kids are not doing drugs,” he said. “You don’t have to be in the hood.”

Watch the full interview below.