Apparently when Ugly Betty and Step-Up 3D star Michael Brea murdered his mother, Yannick Brea, he wasn’t killing her.

He says:

“I didn’t kill her. I killed the demon inside her,”

From his prison cell in Bellvue Hospital (where he’s been evaluated) Michael was interviewed by New York’s Daily News.

He says that when he viciously cut into his mother with a 3-foot sword on Monday night, he was being instructed to do so by god. Even when the police arrived, Michael continued to slice his mother apart.

“I knew they wouldn’t open the door and stop me because the spirits were protecting me,”

“I just kept cutting her. No one could stop me. I was doing the work of God.”

But WHY did he go after her in the first place?

Michael says:

“She had the voice of the demon. I asked, ‘Do you believe in God?’ She said, ‘No, Michael no,’ and began screaming. I began slashing her like this,”

“I didn’t want to kill her right away. I wanted to give her time to get right with God,”

Michael Brea is now being charged with criminal possession of a weapon and second-degree murder. This is really a horrible tragedy and I hope he gets the help he needs!