Todd Bridges Reveals His Last Words to Late Mother Betty A. Bridges (Exclusive) ArticlePure

Todd Bridges is revealing his final words to his mother before she died.

The Diff’rent Strokes actor, 59, sat down with PEOPLE to talk about his late mom, Betty A. Bridges, who died at age 83 on Aug. 27. He explained that because he loved her, he gave her permission to move on.

“Before she passed away, she was awake a little bit, and I kissed her on the forehead, and I said, ‘Look, if you want to go see your mom and your grandmother and your brothers, you can go ahead, Mom. Go. We’re going to be okay,’ ” he recalls. “And about a couple hours later, she was gone.”

Todd says one of the most important things he learned from Betty was his faith, and he leaned on God when it was time to say goodbye to his mother.

“She was going through too much, and I was happy that God took her home,” he explains. “My mom passing away, to me, I didn’t want her to, but I didn’t want to see her suffer anymore either.”

Like her son, Betty found a career in acting. She is best known for her roles in Good Times, ER and 2 Broke Girls. In addition to being his mother, Todd recalls how Betty also “taught a lot of people” around her.

“What’s interesting is, the reason why so many Black kids ended up in this business was because of my parents,” he explains.

The late actress died while under hospice care at Todd’s house, and he says it was difficult for him and his wife “watching her decline, knowing she wouldn’t make it.”

“My mom, she stood behind me no matter what,” he tells PEOPLE of his mom’s unwavering support, especially in difficult times. “And the reason why I’m sober is because of her.”

Todd has been sober for 31 years, which he jokes makes him “no spring chicken,” and that is just one of the many topics he plans on talking about in his forthcoming new podcast with his wife, Bettijo.

“We just thought that there are a lot of podcasts out there, but I think that our views are a lot different than most people’s podcasts,” he says of the inspiration to start Dang!, which releases on Nov. 13. 

On the acting front, Todd voices the character Monk in the Everybody Loves Chris animated spin-off, Everybody Still Hates Chris, which is currently airing on Comedy Central.

“It was a lot of fun,” he says of taking part in the revival series. “First of all, the [original] show got canceled too soon, and everyone realized it was canceled way too early. It was a good show. And what I liked about it was it showed a positive influence of a Black family, and that definitely needs to be more on TV.”

With all the change in his life, Todd says it is important that he stays grounded in his faith and focuses on the good that is happening around him.

“The thing I’m most excited about is just being able to go out there and do what I like doing, but on my terms,” he says. “I like how actors now have a lot more control of stuff. Back in the day, you didn’t have that much control. But we do now. We have a lot more control of what we want to do, if we want to do it, when we want to do it.”

“I just think that God has me right where he wants me, and I’m okay right here,” he adds.

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Everybody Still Hates Chris airs Wednesdays at 10 p.m. on Comedy Central.