Grief and Resilience
Emilie Kiser Shares Her Profound Grief and Vital Water Safety Message After Son’s Drowning
Key Points
Kiser told Jay Shetty that after losing a child, “you really don’t care about anything else besides doing your best to get through it,” adding, “And there’s not even a through it. You don’t get through it.”
She described being “five weeks postpartum” when Trigg died and said that about 10 minutes after she arrived at dinner, her husband called to report Trigg had fallen into the pool and “wasn’t breathing,” before she rushed to the hospital as he later died nearly a week later.
In the months after the incident, Kiser went quiet on social media while “sued to conceal records” and while officials investigated, before slowly returning to her platform in September 2025.
Beyond urging water precautions and lessons, she also cited public health data, saying drowning is “the first cause of death for children aged between one and four, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.”
Influencer Emilie Kiser, 27, gave her first extended interview since the death of her three-year-old son Trigg on June 17, 2026, appearing on Jay Shetty's On Purpose podcast. Trigg died on May 18, 2025, six days after he fell into the family's backyard pool in Chandler, Arizona, while unsupervised for more than nine minutes, according to People.
Kiser said grief is not something you move past. "You don't get through it," she told Jay Shetty. She described making a final promise to Trigg before he died — that she would stay present and be the best mother she could be for her younger son, Teddy, according to Yahoo News.
The Night Trigg Drowned: What the Evidence Shows
Kiser was five weeks postpartum when she left for dinner on May 12, 2025. About 10 minutes after she arrived, her husband Brady called to say Trigg had fallen into the pool and "wasn't breathing," she recalled on the podcast. She rushed to the hospital. Trigg died six days later at Phoenix Children's Hospital, according to Perez Hilton.
Home surveillance footage showed Trigg was unsupervised in the backyard for 9 minutes and 18 seconds. He was submerged for approximately 7 minutes after tripping over an inflatable chair. Police reports said the pool net was not installed that evening. Chandler police recommended a Class 4 felony child abuse charge against Brady Kiser, but the Maricopa County Attorney declined to prosecute in July 2025, citing "no reasonable likelihood of conviction."
Kiser's Final Promise and the Choice to Keep Going
Kiser told Jay Shetty she made a promise to Trigg right before he died. That vow — to care for Teddy and keep showing up — became her reason to keep going. "I have a choice to make: let this derail me or be the best mom I possibly can for Teddy," she said, according to Yahoo News.
She also described the weight of grief in raw terms. "You really don't care about anything else besides doing your best to get through it," she said. She added there is no "through it" — only the daily decision to keep moving forward for the child who is still here, according to Perez Hilton.
Legal Battles and a Long Silence Before Speaking Out
In the weeks after Trigg's death, Kiser went quiet on social media. Under her maiden name Emilie Henrichsen, she filed a lawsuit on May 28, 2025, to block the release of graphic police records. A judge later allowed the redaction of two pages from the 55-page report. More than 100 public records requests had been filed within the first month of the incident, according to People.
Kiser returned to TikTok on September 21, 2025, after a four-month break. She took another pause in May 2026 around the one-year anniversary. The June 17 podcast marks her first formal, extended public discussion of what happened. She has 5.2 million TikTok followers.
Kiser Pushes Water Safety After Citing CDC Drowning Data
Kiser used the interview to urge parents to act before tragedy strikes. She cited CDC data stating drowning is the leading cause of death for children aged one to four. She also shared a statistic from the Children's Safety Network showing that swimming lessons can cut drowning risk by 88%, according to Yahoo News.
She specifically endorsed Infant Swimming Resource, or ISR, lessons — a program that teaches young children basic water survival skills. She framed the safety message as both a grief-coping effort and a direct response to what she called a "preventable" tragedy. Critics online have noted that Kiser previously declined to install a pool fence for aesthetic reasons, though she has publicly emphasized personal accountability since Trigg's death.
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