WASHINGTON — Dr. Laura Berman, a relationship therapist and OWN TV host, is mourning the death of her 16-year-old son.
"My beautiful boy is gone," Berman wrote late Sunday night in a post on Instagram and Facebook.
She and her husband confirmed to multiple outlets on Monday that their son Sammy died on Sunday at their home from an accidental overdose of fentanyl laced Xanax.
Dr. Berman said her teen son got the drugs from a drug dealer that connected with him on Snapchat. Both she and her husband told NBC News there was no way their son knew he was getting drugs laced with fentanyl.
"My heart is completely shattered and I am not sure how to keep breathing. I post this now only so that not one more kid dies," Berman said in her social media post. "We watched him so closely. Straight A student. Getting ready for college. Experimentation gone bad. He got the drugs delivered to the house. Please watch your kids and WATCH SNAPCHAT especially. That’s how they get them."
In a statement, Snapchat said it has a zero tolerance policy for using the platform to buy or sell illegal drugs.
“Our deepest sympathies are with the family and friends of Samuel Berman Chapman and we are heartbroken by his passing,” Snapchat’s statement said. “We are committed to working together with law enforcement in this case and in all instances where Snapchat is used for illegal purposes.”
"I was just saying to a girlfriend the other day that one of the silver linings of the pandemic is that I've had both of my teenage boys trapped in the house, you know, safe. And I was wrong," Berman said in an interview with NBC News.
