The grieving mother of television personality Chris Hyndman believes her only child fell to his death while sleepwalking on the terrace of his penthouse apartment.

In an emotional phone interview from Moose Jaw, Sask., Glenda Hyndman said her son died in an “unfortunate accident.”

Toronto Police spokesperson Meaghan Gray wouldn’t confirm this, and said the investigation is still open. Police do not suspect anything suspicious or criminal.

“Christopher was a sleepwalker, and he did that a lot. He even ate in his sleep,” Glenda Hyndman said of her son, who co-hosted the CBC’s popular daytime TV show Steven and Chris. “It’s not good, but that’s his reality.

“He was the most incredible human being and best son you could ever have. I think his light was so bright it just ... it just burned out.”

Hyndman’s body was found in an alleyway just south of Queen St. E. and Broadview Ave. shortly after 11 p.m. Monday. He was discovered below the sixth-floor unit he shared with his onscreen partner and spouse, Steven Sabados.

Glenda said that Hyndman and Sabados went to bed Monday night, and then Sabados was awakened when police knocked on his door to tell him what happened.

“He’s really, really, really struggling,” she said of Sabados. “I’m going up there (to Toronto), and I’m going to stay as long as I need to help him, because I’m his only little piece of Christopher left.”

While mourning fans gathered Wednesday at a memorial for Hyndman at the CBC building on Front St., a cluster of flowers and tea candles was placed on the sidewalk near where his body was found. Passersby knelt at the flowers and gazed up the side of the brick building where Hyndman lived with Sabados. A glass jar on the ground contained a small note, written in swirling purple cursive: “Love, Laughter, Life.” Someone had also written, “Chris, Never Forgotten” on a sand-coloured envelope propped against a small pot of red roses.

The outpouring of public grief and praise for the TV host has been wonderful, Glenda said, adding that she’s grateful to share the loss with so many caring supporters. She said she hopes Hyndman is remembered as a man of boundless positivity.

“They had a lot of stress, pressure, you know, but they had laughter,” Glenda said of her son’s life with Sabados, his partner of more than two decades. “Christopher said it was always the laughter that got them through every situation and it was the laughter that Christopher tried to give to as many people as possible.”

The playfulness and vibrancy he showed on-camera carried over into his personal life, she said. The 49-year-old inherited his sense of humour from the happy jokes traded in the Newfoundland town of Paradise, where Hyndman grew up, said Glenda. She added that, like herself, Hyndman was “very clumsy” and didn’t ever take to cooking or doing laundry.

“We always say he replaced me with Steven,” she laughed. “They just had a very real and beautiful relationship.”

But there was another side to her son that Glenda said was less obvious because of his onscreen energy. He was also introspective and profoundly considerate, she said. “He used to go in early to his dressing room so he could have his essential oils and his meditation music, and he would just get himself centred and ready for his very lively show.”

Glenda said her son was never a restful sleeper. Living with Sabados, he would even “forage” for food in his sleep, she said. “He was caught by Steven many times eating in his sleep, absolutely … I don’t know if he ever got a restful, solid sleep.”

In 2007, Hyndman told the Star that his medicine cabinet features many items to help him sleep. “I’m obsessed with scented candles ... I have soothing, deep-breathing CDs, earplugs, natural Gravol, Tylenol PM and NyQuil every now and then,” he said at the time.

Hyndman’s mother said plans for a funeral have not been finalized.

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“He shouldn’t have gone so soon, but he’s gone and we have to accept that and get past it,” she said. “He was my only baby.”

Correction — August 6, 2015: This article was edited from a previous version that misstated the year in which Christopher Hyndman spoke to the Star.