NEW YORK — A year to the day after Malcolm-Jamal Warner’s tragic drowning on a family vacation, his widow is suing the late actor’s mother for over $1 million she claims is owed to her.

Warner, best known for his role as Theo Huxtable on “The Cosby Show,” was just 54 when he got caught in an undertow off the Costa Rican coast on July 21, 2025. He was 54.

Tenisha Warner is suing her mother-in-law, Pamela Warner, for over $1.2 million from the Warner Family Trust, for which Pamela is the trustee, according to a lawsuit obtained Tuesday by TMZ. The actor’s estate is not believe to have enough money to make Tenisha whole, which the filing says would include interest and attorney’s fees.

Until the case is resolved, Tenisha is also hoping Pam will be barred from distributing money or property from the trust.

The filing claims that Tenisha is owed $1 million from a life insurance policy, $195,000 in unpaid salary — for her role as the Emmy nominee’s chief of staff and assistant — as well as over $50,000 in anniversary payments and $30,500 for a Roth IRA.

Those numbers stem from the prenuptial agreement Tenisha alleges Warner didn’t ultimately uphold.

Among her claims, Tenisha says, despite their prenup stipulating he would purchase and maintain a $1 million life insurance policy that would name her as his sole beneficiary, he never did so.

The couple wed in May 2017, with Warner keeping both Tenisha’s identity — and that of their young daughter — private.

Pamela, who was her son’s manager, explained to “Good Morning America” in September, that her son “was not an experienced swimmer” and “did not know how to deal with an undertow.”

The “Malcolm & Eddie” producer said that her daughter-in-law and granddaughter, then aged 8, were “both in deep grief,” with the little girl having “watched them try to resuscitate” her father.

“I know that’s awfully, awfully traumatic,” said Pamela. “She loved her father dearly. She adored Papa — he was Papa.”

A few days prior to Pam’s interview, Tenisha confirmed her identity a day before what would have been their eighth anniversary, as she and her daughter launched The Warner Family Foundation.

In May 2025, Warner told the “Hot & Bothered” podcast he and his wife had “never had a fight, an argument, a raised voice or a harsh word” in their near-decade together.

“I think because we met later in life, we’ve just always been at a point where we have a way of communicating like adults,” he said, adding he “never second-guessed” his marriage.

The Daily News has reached out to Pam as well as Warner’s former legal team, and The Warner Family Foundation.

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