obits

Frankie Lons, Keyshia Cole’s Mom and BET Reality Star, Dead at 61

Photo: Paras Griffin/Getty Images

Frankie Lons, a fan-favorite BET reality-show personality for over a decade and the biological mother of singer-songwriter Keyshia Cole, has died at the age of 61 following a public battle with addiction. TMZ reports that Lons overdosed at her home on Sunday, which was also her birthday. Lons’s daughter Elite Noel confirmed the news on her Instagram Stories, writing, “[Worse] pain ever … to see my mama in a body bag on her birthday!” Starring alongside Cole on four BET series since 2006, Keyshia Cole: The Way It Is, Keyshia & Daniel: Family First, Keyshia Cole: All In, and Keyshia Cole: My New Life, Lons was open about her struggles with maintaining sobriety and her dependencies on drugs and alcohol. Lons also had a 2009 spinoff series of her own, Frankie & Neffe, which she starred in with another daughter, Neffeteria Pugh. Lons and Cole often had candid chats on their shows to address Lons’s lifelong battle with addiction. “I don’t want to live forever,” Lons told Cole in 2019. “You’ll always have my protection as a mother, spiritually. Nothing can touch a mother’s love.” Cole has yet to comment on her mom’s death.

Frankie Lons, Keyshia Cole’s Mom and BET Reality Star, Dies