What Happened to Mike Tyson’s Daughter Exodus? Netflix Doc Revisits Her Tragic Death

Warning: The following post contains discussions of the accidental death of a child, which some readers may find distressing.

Few figures in sports history have experienced the dizzying highs and devastating lows of Mike Tyson. From his troubled childhood in Brooklyn to becoming the youngest heavyweight champion in boxing history, Tyson’s life has been marked by extraordinary success, shocking controversies, legal troubles, and personal tragedy.

Netflix’s four-part docuseries Tyson takes an unflinching look at the former boxer’s tumultuous life, exploring his rise to fame, his 1992 rape conviction, his infamous ear-biting incident with Evander Holyfield, and his attempts to rebuild his life outside the ring.

Among the documentary’s most heartbreaking moments is its examination of the 2009 death of Tyson’s 4-year-old daughter, Exodus, who died following a tragic accident at her family’s Phoenix home. The unthinkable loss marked a turning point in Tyson’s life, as he and his family struggled to come to terms with the tragedy and find a way forward.

Here’s what happened to Exodus, how the family responded, and what Tyson has shared about the loss of his daughter.

Netflix

Who are Exodus Tyson’s parents?

Exodus was born to Mike Tyson and Sol Xochitl. Xochitl met Tyson in the early 2000s at a club in Phoenix, Arizona, where she was working as a dancer, and Tyson trained. According to her son Miguel, Tyson shut down the club because “she was the most beautiful woman he had ever seen.”

She had a son from a previous relationship, Miguel, and together, they had Exodus in 2005. “I grew up in a family with a lot of love, but also a lot of other extremes,” Miguel explained in the doc.

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What happened to Exodus Tyson?

Mike Tyson’s 4-year-old daughter, Exodus Tyson, died on May 26, 2009, after a tragic accident involving a treadmill at her family’s Phoenix home.

According to police, Exodus became entangled in a cord hanging beneath the treadmill’s console. Her 7-year-old brother discovered her and alerted their mother, who called 911 and attempted to revive her. Emergency responders performed CPR before transporting her to the hospital, where she was placed on life support. She died the following day.

“It was one of the first memories I actually have,” said son Miguel Leon Tyson. “I was seven, she was four. That day, me and Exodus, we got up early. We are hanging out together, drawing. And then we turn on SpongeBob in the other room just to have some background noise and focus on my drawing. I said, ‘Just go and play in the other room,’ or something like that.”

“Usually, she would always come back. She’d bother you as little sisters do with older brothers. But my mom gets up maybe an hour later or so, and she asked me, ‘Go get Exodus for her breakfast,'” recalled Miguel. “So I just walk into the room right next door… and I look to my right, and I just see the treadmill cord and my sister just hanging from it.” ”

“I just went calmly to the next room and just told my mom, ‘Mom, Exodus is dead,'” recalled Miguel.

Exodus was placed on life support and died at the hospital following the accidental hanging.

Where was Mike Tyson at the time?

Tyson, who was in Las Vegas when the accident occurred, but he immediately flew to Phoenix to be with his daughter.

Netflix

“A friend picked up the phone and said, ‘Mike, we have to go to Phoenix. Exodus hurt herself,'” recalled Tyson in the doc.

Police ruled the incident an accident. In a statement to ESPN, the family expressed their grief and requested privacy. “There are no words to describe the tragic loss of our beloved Exodus,” the family said in a statement. “We ask you now to please respect our need at this very difficult time for privacy to grieve and try to help each other heal.”

In the doc, Tyson is clearly still grieving. When asked how he could go on, his response was, “I don’t know. Still working on that.”

Tyson, Netflix