Ugly Betty actor who killed his mother had money woes

LONDON - Friends of ‘Ugly Betty’ actor Michael Brea who allegedly killed his mother believe that financial stress and fears over his stalled showbiz career pushed him over the edge.

“Michael had many money problems and couldn’t pay his bills,” the Daily Mail quoted his longtime friend and barber Sylvan Benoit as saying.

“I think this happened because of stress over money,” the friend said.

Neighbour Gregory Clare said: “His mother was supporting him, and he had to use his father’s car to get around”.

Brea, 31, who had bit-part roles in ‘Ugly Betty’ and the movie ‘Step Up 3D’, was apparently convinced his church-going mother Yannick Brea, 55, was possessed by Satan before hacking her to death.

He is reported to have told doctors that he “saw the Devil, and that the Devil was somehow in his mother”.

Brea lived in the four-story Prospect Heights apartment building in Brooklyn where the attack took place with his mother and twin brother Marcel.

55-year-old Yannick Brea’s bloodcurdling screams were heard by neighbours at around 1am yesterday morning.

Yannick’s sister Gina Dumond said the family believes Brea suffered a “mental breakdown.”

She said he went to bed early Monday night without eating dinner after complaining of “a terrible headache.”

Hours later screams of ‘Repent! Repent! Repent!’ and rambling biblical verses being repeated by Brea were heard as his mother cried out for help. (ANI)