The US Ambassador to New Zealand has announced his mother has died.
Scott Brown broke the sad news on Twitter on Thursday morning (local time).
"Tough day in the Brown House. Mom (Judy) passed away a few minutes ago. Sad I'm so far away and was not able to be there w/her."
He says his sister Lee-Ann was able to be by her side, and says he'll be heading home to the US soon.
Brown's family has lived in New Hampshire since the 17th century. His parents, Claude and Judith, divorced when he was a year old and he moved with his mother to neighbouring state Massachusetts.
A working woman through the 1960s and 70s, Brown's mother sometimes relied on benefit payments to keep the family going. Judith remarried three times after divorcing Brown's father, who coincidentally remarried three times as well.
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Brown has spoken candidly about his troubled childhood, including that at least one of his stepfathers beat both him and his mother. He began drinking and shoplifting from age 12 but saw the error of his ways fairly quickly.
He told The Listener in 2017 that while he remained angry at his mother's choices for a long time, he had forgiven her.
Judith had suffered from Alzheimer's for several years and struggled to recognise her son when he visited.
Brown has lived in New Zealand since Donald Trump picked him as Ambassador in June 2017.
Newshub.
