Actor and model Ethan Browne’s the cause of death has been revealed.
THE The Los Angeles County Medical Examiner confirmed Tuesday, January 13, that Ethan, the songwriter’s son Jackson Brownedied of the “effects of fentanyl, methamphetamine and lidocaine,” according to documents obtained by Us every week.
The medical examiner ruled that the circumstances of the death were accidental. He was 52 years old.
Jackson, 77, shared the the news of the death of his son in November 2025.
Hollywood mourned the deaths of some of its most legendary stars in 2025. Over the summer, we lost Anne Burrell, Ozzy Osbourne, Hulk Hogan, Malcolm-Jamal Warner and Brandon Blackstock. Jane Goodall, Diane Keaton, D’Angelo, Marshawn Kneeland and many others died in October and November. THANKS! You have successfully subscribed. Subscribe to newsletters Please enter […]
“It is with deep sadness that we share that on the morning of November 25, 2025, Ethan Browne, the son of Jackson Browne and Phyllis Majorwas found unresponsive at his home and died,” Jackson said. Facebook read November 26, 2025. “We ask for privacy and respect for the family during this difficult time. No further details are available at this time.”
Jackson and Major welcomed Ethan in 1973, three years before Major committed suicide at the age of 30. Jackson then married Lynee Sweeney in 1981, welcoming son Ryan the following year before their divorce in 1983.
Ethan grew up following in his father’s footsteps by pursuing a career in Hollywood. He was only a year old when he appeared on the cover of rolling stone in 1974 alongside Jackson, where the songwriter held his son in his arms while snuggling into his face. The 1995 film Hackers would later serve as Ethan’s feature film debut. In 2002, he appeared in the 2002 TV show Birds of prey before being chosen in 2004 Raising Helene alongside Kate Hudson.
According to That of Mark Ronson Memories 2025 Night People: How to be a DJ in 90s New YorkEthan was also an active actor and featured in campaigns for designers like Isaac Mizrahi before his death. Ronson recalls meeting Ethan in her book, describing him as “the real deal” who had his late mother’s “sharp cheekbones” and “an angular face and soulful gaze that seemed to reveal her deepest truths, even from a glossy page.”
Ethan was also a dad himself, welcoming a daughter before his death.
“Ethan is a great father. He’s a great son, a great man. I love seeing him with his kids,” Jackson gushed about his son in a May 2022 interview with The rebirth of Tru Rock. “When I see him in his films, modeling, with his daughter and being a great father, it makes me very proud. It makes me feel like I’ve done something really good in my life.”
Jackson has been candid about how his “main focus” became fatherhood after Major’s death.
“I only had two things that I hoped I could combine: being a songwriter and a father. And I looked at it like this, if I’m just going to be a father, I hope I figure it out and do it,” the “These Days” songwriter said in an interview with Itinerary magazine in June 2021. “But life isn’t like that and you don’t get a notice in the mail telling you that you’re wasting your life as a parent. You think you have the advice and help you need, and sometimes you don’t, or you don’t heed it.”
He continued, “The mistakes I made as a parent are still with me. I think about them quite often. It’s not that you’re not trying all the time. It’s not that I wasn’t trying at that time. You just get distracted by other things and some things don’t occur to you. Or maybe you ignore advice that you should have followed, because you’re too confident.”
