16 and Pregnant star Whitney Purvis opened up about the heartbreaking moment she learned her 16-year-old son, Weston Gosa Jr., was dead.
“I didn’t want it to be real,” Whitney, 33, told People in an interview published on Thursday, June 5. “I didn’t understand what happened.”
Whitney shared the horrific news on Monday, June 2, that her teenage son – whom she shared with former partner Weston Gosa Sr. – died unexpectedly. The family has requested an autopsy, as the child’s cause of death has yet to be established.
In her new interview, Whitney explained that she was pulling into a parking lot for a class when she received a “9-1-1” text from Weston Sr.
“When I answered the phone, I could hear him crying before he spoke, and I knew it was going to be bad, and he told me, and I was just in shock,” she said. “He told me everything he knew at that time, and that he would call me back, and I just pulled out of the parking lot and drove home and just screamed in my car, just screamed to the top of my lungs.”
Questions remain over the teen’s final hours, as camera footage from Weston Sr.’s home showed the boy repeatedly getting up from bed overnight, according to Whitney.
“Big Weston said he came into Little Weston’s bedroom at 7 in the morning to wake him up, and he wouldn’t wake up,” she said. “They called 911, and he did CPR until the ambulance got there, and they pronounced him dead at the hospital.”
Whitney has chosen to grieve on her own for the time being, explaining that she’s felt as if time has been “standing still, just frozen” since her son died.
“I can’t distract myself,” Whitney tearfully said. “It’s going through my mind constantly. I hate to even pick up my phone.”
She went on, “When I’m not crying, I’m just staring at the ceiling. I never wanted to go through something like this. I mean, I know no one does, but you never think it’ll happen to you, and I just can’t even imagine a future now. I can’t imagine going on after this.”
Whitney touched on how her and Weston Sr.’s younger son, River, born in 2014, is struggling to cope with his big brother’s death.
“River doesn’t understand it,” she said. “River has autism, and I don’t think he quite understands what’s happening.”
Following the announcement of Weston Jr.’s death, Whitney penned a stirring tribute via Instagram in order to focus on happy memories with her late son.
“I will always cherish our memories together,” Purvis wrote on Tuesday, June 3. “The songs you [used] to love, your laugh, the phases you would go through, the little dolphin noise you [used] to do when you were younger, your smile, your jokes, the first day of school, playing with you, your first time swimming, making crafts, how you would dance in your crib to the Law and Order: SVU theme song, being a great big brother, the first time I held you and the last hug I gave you.”
Weston Jr.’s stepmother Amy Gosa previously opened up about her own grief via a Facebook post where she said “losing a child is the most painful thing” she has “ever experienced.”
“He was the most amazing son I could have asked for. He was brilliant, smart, funny and had so much potential in life. It doesn’t feel real,” she wrote. “Please keep our family and Whitney in your thoughts and prayers as we mourn such a brilliant amazing life that was our son.”
A fundraising page has been set for the family in hopes of collecting $12,000 to pay for Weston’s gravestone and additional funeral costs.
