Family Cut Ties With Alaskan Bush People Star Years Ago

When a family decides to sever ties with one of their own, something profound has usually happened first. For the Brown family of Discovery’s Alaskan Bush People, that breaking point came roughly five years ago—long before the recent incident that’s now bringing Matt Brown back into the spotlight for all the wrong reasons.

Last Tuesday, Matt Brown, one of the show’s original stars, allegedly appeared nude and intoxicated while livestreaming himself wandering through a public park in Washington state. At one point during the broadcast, he appeared to be carrying a firearm as he rambled incoherently to his online audience. It’s a stark image, but according to family sources, it’s also disturbingly familiar. This wasn’t the first time. For years, the Brown family watched Matt spiral, and they eventually made a choice that says everything about how serious his struggles had become.

The catalyst for the family’s decision came when late patriarch Billy Brown ultimately concluded the family could no longer support Matt, particularly given his well-documented battles with alcohol. His mother, Ami Brown, initially resisted cutting him off—a mother’s instinct to hold on—but Matt’s siblings eventually pressured her to distance herself after witnessing repeated cycles of destructive behavior. The family viewed the separation as necessary, not just for their own safety, but also to protect the Alaskan Bush People brand itself. Matt had become what family members described as“too toxic”to remain closely associated with.

What’s particularly striking is how long this was coming. Family concerns about Matt’s behavior predated Billy Brown’s death in 2021, and those closest to him characterized his drinking as leading to paranoia and dark thoughts when he spiraled. In 2019, Matt stepped away from the show and entered treatment to address his issues. After rehab, he relocated to rural northeastern Washington, where he built a YouTube following documenting his life through livestreams and personal videos—attempting, it seemed, to rebuild in relative isolation.

But isolation and YouTube access don’t always equal recovery. The May incident suggests that whatever foundation Matt tried to build may still be fragile. Today, Gabe Brown is reportedly the only family member who occasionally communicates with him, and even those interactions are described as rare. For the rest of the Browns, the line was drawn years ago, and it remains unbroken. Sometimes a family’s silence speaks louder than any public statement ever could.