Malcolm-Jamal Warner's widow's friend launches GoFundMe amid ugly prenup battle with his mother over $1.2million

A friend of Malcolm-Jamal Warner's widow Tenisha has launched a GoFundMe campaign to support her – amid her ugly prenup battle with the late star's mother.

Last month, Tenisha, 48, entered multiple legal filings in an effort to collect around $1.27 million from a family trust headed by the Cosby Show star's mother, Pamela Warner.

Warner made her filings a year to the day after the 54-year-old actor tragically drowned while on vacation in Costa Rica. 

Now, a close friend of Tenisha's, Destiny Rael, has launched a fundraiser on her behalf to support her legal battle and the couple's nine-year-old daughter - noting Tenisha is now the 'sole provider' for the home.

The fundraiser, which has raised almost $35,000 of its $40,000 target at the time of publication, reads: 'I have been Tenisha Warner's closest friend for 19 years. I am the one who first brought her and Malcolm Jamal Warner together, and I have been beside her through everything since his tragic passing.

'I am organizing this campaign because I have witnessed, up close, the depth of Tenisha’s grief and the weight she has had to carry, and because I know she would never ask for this kind of support herself, so I am asking on her behalf.

'I know that Malcolm is beloved by so many, and his fans are grieving his loss. I can tell you what most people never see. I have watched Tenisha spend this year grieving the love of her life while honoring the promise they made to each other, to homeschool their nine-year-old daughter. Every single day she shows up for her child as though her own world had not fallen apart, and still makes sure breakfast is on the table.'

Rael says she was with Tenisha when she returned home after Jamal Warner died, only to find the house devastated by 'unexpected flooding.' 

'She is rebuilding not only her life without him, but the very home they created together.

'Every room holds their memories, with no space to truly mourn, because the demands have never paused: legal matters that began within weeks of Malcolm’s passing, financial weight carried alone, a house to put back together, and their daughter to care for every single day. She has stretched every resource she has and borrowed from people who love her just to keep one foot in front of the other.'

It continued, 'You may assume that Malcolm-Jamal Warner’s career left his wife and daughter financially secure. That was his intention. Malcolm had worked with his attorneys to update his estate plan to provide for his wife and daughter, but he passed away before he could sign it. They thought they had time.

'Malcolm was a working actor, and he and Tenisha built their life around their daughter, not around fame. 

'For most of their marriage, Tenisha stepped back from her own career as a Doctor of Psychology to be present for their daughter and to support Malcolm as a father, an actor, and as her husband. They made that choice together, and she would gladly make it again. But it means that today, without his income and without access to what he intended to provide for them, she does not have the financial cushion people might assume.

'As a single mom now, Tenisha carries the cost of resolving Malcolm’s estate alone because asking for help does not come naturally to her.

'That is why the people who love her have launched this campaign: to help Tenisha honor Malcolm’s wishes and his legacy while providing stability for their daughter, his only child, and the family he loved most.

'The funds will help ease the financial strain, cover the expenses she is now facing, and provide security for Tenisha and her daughter as they work toward resolving Malcolm’s affairs.

'I am not asking anyone to take sides in a family matter that was never meant to be public. I am asking you to stand with a grieving wife and mother, and her young daughter, so they don’t lose what Malcolm always intended to provide for them.

'Every contribution, no matter the amount, makes a meaningful difference. If you are not able to give, sharing this page and keeping Tenisha and her daughter in your thoughts is a powerful gesture of support.

'Thank you from the bottom of my heart. Destiny Rael.'

Last month Tenisha broke down in tears over The Cosby Show star's death in her first interview since the tragedy with Gayle King on CBS mornings.

'The moments of that day, they occupy my body so deeply, so it’s really hard for me to relive what all of that was and to think about it,' Tenisha shared.

'It just breaks me in a way that makes it hard for me to stay steady... I can’t remember the details. I think [it’s because] my body went through shock.' 

Malcolm-Jamal died after being caught in a riptide while on a family vacation with Tenisha and their now nine-year-old daughter in Costa Rica.

Tenisha described his death as 'the worst day of my life.'

'All I can think about is my daughter, and what I needed to do to continue being her mother and be her only parent,' she said.

Tenisha said that 'he is here' and with her and her daughter 'always,' and that she is uninterested in moving out of the home they shared together because the 'memories' are all there.

She became emotional as she explained: 'I can’t be in my own home without feeling the loss, but I can’t walk away.'

Tenisha also said that she hopes that people will not forget about her and their daughter as life continues to roll on. 

She said: 'The hardest thing about grief is that people move on, but for us, because we’re his wife and child, there’s no moving on.

'There’s moving with and living with — he will always be a part of our every day and there’s not a moment … in my day that I’m not affected.'

The widow was asked by King if she was close to her mother-in-law and she replied: 'You know.' 

This comes as Tenisha has submitted multiple legal filings in an effort to collect around $1.27 million from a family trust headed by her late husband's mother.

The widow named her late spouse's mother in a lawsuit in Georgia's DeKalb County Superior Court on Monday, according to documents reviewed by The Daily Mail.

Warner made her filings a year to the day after the actor tragically drowned while on vacation in Costa Rica. 

'For the last year, I have attempted to privately settle my beloved husband’s complicated estate and honor his last wishes,' Tenisha told the Daily Mail in a statement. 'Malcolm had every intention to provide for our nine-year-old daughter [MacKenzie] and me.'

She said of Warner, who famously portrayed Theo Huxtable on The Cosby Show: 'He was close to finalizing a new estate plan to replace the stale plan created in 1996 when he was 26 years old, 20 years before we met and well before we gave birth to our beautiful daughter. Sadly, he was unable to do so before we lost him.'

Tenisha said she has 'been struggling to care for [her and Warner's] daughter as a single mom and now as her sole provider,' and legally 'had no choice but to take action to protect our rights before any potential statute of limitations expired.'

The Daily Mail has reached out to representatives for Pamela Warner for comment but has yet to hear back.

Tenisha said in the Georgia filing that on May 15, 2022, she and the late actor had come to a prenuptial agreement in which he consented to making her the sole beneficiary of a life insurance policy worth $1 million, but he fell short on making key moves prior to his passing.

The late actor did not buy or keep up the life insurance policy, Tenisha said in the lawsuit.

Tenisha also cited in the suit unpaid expenses left by the late actor, including $16,000 in yearly tax-free payments 'per year on each anniversary of the parties' marriage' that eclipsed $50,000. 

Tenisha said the late actor had agreed to place $30,500 into a Roth IRA in her name, as well as to make her a monthly payment of $5,000 for her work as his chief of staff and assistant.

According to the filing, the payments amounted to around $195,000.

Tenisha said in the filing that she did not think his estate had been funded, and wanted the assets taken from a family trust the actor set up, which is controlled by his mother. 

'Plaintiff performed all obligations required of her under the Agreement, including entering into and remaining in the marriage until the Decedent's death,' Tenisha said in the Georgia filing. 'The Decedent died without having satisfied his obligations under the Agreement, and no person or entity has paid or provided the sums due to Plaintiff.' 

She also requested that the court put a hold on the money in the estate to prevent it from being distributed before the case is sorted. 

The filing in Los Angeles Superior Court named 'The Warner Family Trust, dated October 7, 1996,' and established that Tenisha was requesting $1,276,042.46 and related costs in the Georgia suit. 

The petition was for an order of conveyance of trust property and related claims under probate code, establishment of payee of the trust, preservation of protective actions, determining the omitted spouse's beneficial interest, instructing the trustee to preserve the assets and for trustee to account. 

Tenisha said in a July 17 petition filed in Los Angeles County Court and reviewed by the Daily Mail that she is due 'at least the total amount of $1,276,042.46 in addition to prejudgment and postjudgment interest, attorneys’ fees, and costs.'