The loss of a loved one is a wound that takes a long time to heal. A very long time. And when faced with such a reality (sudden death in this case) people have different responses. Some become numb and others just scream. That was ANT’s reaction upon receiving news that his mother, Yvette Edwards, would no longer be with him. The story of Anthony Edwards is one that’s quite familiar.

But how many of us really know Edwards’ state of mind then? Yes, the 23-year-old has spoken about the death of the two women most dear to him—his mother and grandmother, Shirley. He has been vocal about how they have been his biggest supporters and that their deaths fueled him (and continue to fuel him) to put in that extra work.

However, he hasn’t really been open regarding his feelings about that sad night. But now, we might just get to know about it. Watching it all and ensuring their little brother would remain with them for the foreseeable future were his siblings.

Ant-Man’s oldest siblings detail the events leading up to their mother’s death

“Me being the only girl, I feel like I matured really fast,” Antoinette, who was just 19 at the time of her mother’s passing, admitted in the Raising Ant Edwards episode of Raising Fame. The eldest of the siblings, Antoine, recalled how he was urged to take legal guardianship of his brothers.

“I think it’s best you and your sister take legal guardianship of your brothers just in case something happen to your mom. And I was looking at the lady like, ‘So what are you saying? That something happened to my mom?’ She’s like, ‘I’m not saying anytime soon, but I think it’s best you sign here now.’ And a couple days later, my mom, she passed away,” Antonie, who was 21 then, said.

When the host asked whether Yvette shielded her illness from her kids, both of them agreed. But it wasn’t the sole reason. “She was all busy worried about us,” Antoinette said. And what mom wouldn’t be? As mentioned above, even her eldest was just stepping into adulthood. Her second-eldest, the only daughter, had just graduated. And as for the younger boys, they were at an age when they needed her support the most. most. So, naturally, and especially as a single parent, all she would have cared about was to give her kids the best she could give.

The moment of truth came sooner than expected for Anthony Edwards

Everything happened really fast. One moment Edwards’ mom was diagnosed with ovarian cancer and next, she was no more. Yvette fought cancer for exactly 10 months and 5 days after the diagnosis. The kids couldn’t believe what they heard. “When my mom passed away, we was like, ‘Woah! They just told us she had ovarian cancer. How could she go so fast?’,” Antoinette said.

She then revealed that early in the morning, at 5:30, she got a call saying that they needed to get to the hospital fast because their mother was taking her “last breath.” At the time, the younger kids, Bubba and Anthony, were asleep at their uncle’s house just up the street. “Ant-Man just ran out to the street, screaming. It was just crazy … we had to calm ourselves down and bring him back in,” Antoinette said, reliving the day when their lives turned upside down.

By the time she gathered her siblings, someone had arrived and drove them to the hospice. “See, they told me she was transitioning,” Antoinette clarified. So when the hospital asked them to drive down urgently, everyone was baffled. Shirley, the kids’ grandmother, had also received the same call. And the only question all of them had was, “What’s going on?”

But when they arrived and heard the details, there was no more confusion. A cancer patient herself, Shirley lost her footing upon hearing the news, and were it not for Antoine, she would have fallen to the floor. Yvette Edwards passed away on January 5, 2015, just like that.

After ANT’s dad left Yvette to fend for herself, their grandmother also stepped in to take care of the kids. She had been battling cancer since 2009. And although there was a period of remission, Shirley’s cancer came back in full force, seven months after Yvette’s death, taking her also away from the children. In the space of a few months, Anthony Edwards and his siblings lost both their mother and grandmother to cancer.

We can hardly imagine what the Edwards family endured, but it certainly brought them closer together. The brave women of the family taught and prepared the siblings to persevere and never give up. This might be the major reason Anthony Edwards works as hard as he does – to honor his mother and grandmother. To ensure their sacrifice wasn’t for nothing.