Emilie Kiser's first interview since son's tragic drowning: "I didn’t know if I could forgive [my husband]"

Influencer Emilie Kiser has spoken in-depth for the first time about the devastating loss of her son, Trigg, aged 3, while he was in the care of her husband, Brady. At the time, Emilie was five weeks postpartum having recently welcomed baby Teddy, and was on a rare night out for dinner – and tragically, while Brady was distracted with their newborn, Trigg fell into the family swimming pool.

Speaking on Jay Shetty's podcast, Emilie recalled the awful night in May 2025 when she received a phonecall from Brady explaining what had happened, and how at some points she wasn't sure if she'd ever be able to forgive him.

"I was five weeks postpartum, went out for dinner for a little girls’ night out, and about ten minutes after I arrived I got a call from my husband, [Brady, saying] that our son, Trigg, had fallen in the pool and wasn’t breathing," she recalled. "I could hear the pain and confusion in his voice, I knew immediately something was wrong. Our life completely changed that day, he passed away about a week later."

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Detailing how the loss of their eldest son has impacted their marriage, Emilie told Jay that she and Brady have attended couple's therapy and have done their best to grieve together, as well as process things separately. "I really give Brady so much empathy and respect – I think that would maybe shock people – he has really allowed me to take out every emotion I’ve had throughout this process. He’s let me feel every emotion [...]

"A lot of people would say ‘I could never forgive my husband, I could never stay married to him’, [but] he let me feel all of those emotions. It’s been really hard at times to grieve together, there was a time from the beginning where I felt so angry, I didn’t know if I could ever forgive this man. But I think the biggest thing that really altered how I thought about it was this could have easily happened to me. Brady was taking care of our newborn child. When I left for dinner that night, he was thawing my breastmilk, trying to get Teddy, a five-week old baby settled."

She added, "I would so deeply want him to forgive me [if roles were reversed] [...] We’ve done our best truly to really remember all we have is each other in understanding what we’ve been through and how much we love and miss [Trigg]."

Explaining her choice to speak out on the heartbreaking loss, Emilie urged listeners to give their children swimming lessons as early as possible, and encouraged them to invest in a pool fence rather than a pool net. "Please, protect your kids."

Elsewhere, Emilie recalled the mental turmoil of living second to second, minute to minute, while Trigg was unwell and after his passing. "There is no way to describe the [pain of losing a child]. Time feels warped [...] Your brain chemistry literally changes." At some points, she recalls being unable to even clean her teeth, as she was so grief-stricken, and has blocked out the extreme trauma of hearing the press gathered outside her home as news of Trigg’s drowning became public.

Reflecting on why she now feels Trigg died, Emilie shares that in her mind, there’s no bigger reason, beyond that she and her husband "should have protected him better".