'Live Like Braun’ a Mother’s Fight for Justice

April 7, 2026·34 min·2 clips

Jennifer Levy says the hospital room was “very sterile” and that her husband told her, “that is not our son.”

1. The Dr. Phil Podcast episode centers on The Dr. Phil Podcast and “Live Like Braun” a Mother’s Fight for Justice, with Jennifer Levy and Bron’s friends speaking about a DUI death and the response around it. 2. Jennifer Levy is Bron’s mother, Dr. Phil is the interviewer, and four of Bron’s friends join to describe why Bron mattered to them. 3. The episode asks what Bron’s life, death, and legacy can do to change DUI behavior and California sentencing law. 4. Levy says Bron was 18, a week shy of graduating summa cum laude at Loyola High School in Los Angeles, and was walking home after a Saturday night out. 5. She says the family had lost their house in the Palisades fire, witnessed it burning, and moved to Hermosa Manhattan Beach to rebuild a home base. 6. The transcript says the driver was charged with murder, had a blood alcohol level of 0.19, and had a suspended license from a prior DUI arrest in 2023. 7. Levy says the case is part of why she is advocating for new California laws to create deterrence, accountability, and prevention. 8. She describes waking up to the police call, going to the hospital, and identifying Bron’s body as “the absolute worst fear of any parent.” 9. The transcript says she still sees a “slide show” of the night he was killed when she goes to bed and that small objects like a T-shirt or ball cap trigger grief. 10. Bron’s friends describe him as magnetic, funny, and impossible to forget, and one says he had a “million best friends.” 11. They also say the loss reaches beyond the immediate family and into his entire friend group, classmates, and community. 12. The episode notes that the group calls its effort the Live Like Bron movement, with hats, bracelets, sweatshirts, and T-shirts as visible symbols. 13. Levy says the merch works as a “silent invitation” for strangers to start a conversation and make an actual human connection. 14. She frames that movement against a world shaped by Instagram, Snapchat, and online contact rather than face-to-face friendship. 15. The episode includes a striking detail about Levy’s husband, a doctor, going to the hospital and saving a child’s life the same day after learning Bron had died. 16. Dr. Phil also discusses Utah’s DUI stamp law, describing it as a deterrent that blocks alcohol service to people with the stamp on their license. 17. Levy says Bron’s memory should move people toward action, and she repeatedly ties the family’s grief to legislative reform in California. 18. The tone mixes grief, advocacy, and interview back-and-forth, with Dr. Phil pressing on law, accountability, and the lived experience of loss. 19. Listeners interested in DUI law, grief advocacy, and young people’s community impact should listen. 20. Listeners looking for light conversation or entertainment should probably skip it.

As heard by us

A plainspoken grief story about a loss that feels avoidable.

The episode centers on a mother's account of losing her 18-year-old son, and it does not look away from the facts. He was a week shy of graduating summa cum laude at Loyola High School. A midnight call led to police telling the family he had been hit by a car.

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Why you'd press play

Press play for a raw family story about grief, blame, and accountability.

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