The Heartbreaking Story Of Bold And The Beautiful Star Hunter Tylo's Son's Death
On the outside, it seems as though Hunter Tylo has lived a life many people would dream of. While some of that is true, the "Bold and The Beautiful" star has also suffered immense tragedy.
According to IMDb, Tylo began her career in the entertainment world in the 1970s. It wasn't acting that got her foot in the door, but her beauty. Throughout the '70s and '80s, Tylo was a "top fashion model," but knew she could be so much more and became an actor. Tylo starred in some big productions, including "All My Children" and "Baywatch," but it was her role as Dr. Taylor Hayes on "The Bold and the Beautiful" that made her a household name. While things seemed to be going great in her professional life, her personal life struggled.
Not only had Tylo gone through a divorce from her first husband, Tom Morehart, but one of her children from her second marriage was diagnosed with a rare cancer. According to CBS, the actor's daughter, Katya Tylo, was diagnosed with retinoblastoma in 1998. Although she made a full recovery, Katya wasn't the only one of Hunter's four children that she had to be worried about. Her son, Michael "Mickey" Tylo Jr. suffered from a seizure disorder that ultimately led to his tragic death.
Hunter Tylo's son drowned in a pool
In October 2007, Hunter Tylo's world was rocked. Her son, Michael "Mickey" Tylo Jr., tragically died at the age of 19, per UPI. The coroner's office released a statement confirming the young teen's death and its accidental cause. They shared, "It has already been determined that this was an accident. Looking at the report, it appears that he fell in the pool after having some sort of medical event. It says on the report that he had a seizure disorder."
Apparently, Mickey had been dealing with these seizures for the past couple of years prior to his death. Hunter opened up about her son's passing with People, and explained, "They began in about January of 2005. It's very ironic that a seizure disorder, which was really downplayed by his therapist, ended up being more fatal than the cancer his sister [Katya] got." The "Bold and The Beautiful" star and the rest of the Tylo family were absolutely devastated by the loss of Mickey.
Unaware of how serious Mickey's condition was, Hunter wished she knew the details of his illness sooner. She shared with the outlet, "What we didn't realize is that with each seizure, they build upon themselves like a thunderstorm, so each one gets worse." But, Hunter claimed that her lack of knowledge of her son's health wasn't her fault, as she alleged the therapists downplayed his condition.
Hunter Tylo filed a wrongful death lawsuit
Nearly a year after Hunter Tylo's son, Michael "Mickey" Tylo Jr., passed away the actor filed a wrongful death lawsuit against a social worker named Shanna Downing, and a therapy center that had treated her son, per the Las Vegas Sun. Hunter claimed that her son didn't receive any medication for his seizures and thus resulted in his accidental drowning.
Hunter opened up with People about how she believes the situation should have been handled, she shared, "...If he had been treated at an earlier stage with a much more aggressive approach, the seizures wouldn't have built upon themselves to the magnitude they did." Instead, the actor claimed they were told her son's seizures resulted from Hunter's recent split from her second husband, per the Las Vegas Sun. The documents explained, "Downing told [Mickey] and Hunter Tylo that once the stress was eliminated in [Mickey's] life, his seizures would disappear. Downing told plaintiffs that [Mickey] would 'never seizure again' and that he did not need to take an anti-seizure medication." Downing denied Hunter's allegations and reportedly provided a prescription showing Mickey had been prescribed medicine for his seizures.
Despite Hunter being aggressive in her lawsuit, it seems as though nothing came from it because there have been no reports on the case since. Instead, Hunter dove into her work, although she has not been in a project since she departed from "The Bold and The Beautiful" in 2019, per IMDb.