Juice WRLD’s Mother Opens Up On His Death: ‘My Biggest Fear Was Him Overdosing’
Juice WRLD‘s mother, Carmela Wallace, is opening up about the loss of her son and speaking out to warn others about drug addiction, mental health and self-medicating. She also tells ABC 7 Chicago, “My biggest fears was him overdosing.”
Last December, the music industry lost a fast-rising rap superstar, Juice WRLD, born in Chicago as Jarad Higgins, when he accidentally overdosed and suffered a seizure (as a result of oxycodone and codeine toxicity) as his plane arrived to Midway Airport. The rapper had just turned 21 and was coming home from a celebration.
RELATED: Autopsy Reveals Juice Wrld Died From Accidental OD Of Oxycodone
While hoping to steer others away from such a tragic fate, Wallace says, “It was devastating, but one thing I decided early on was, I was not going to hide the fact that he died from a drug overdose. I didn’t want to keep that secret because a lot of people deal with that every day.” Wallace also says she warned her son. “I said, ‘if you have anxiety, then you need to get medicated properly for it instead of medicating yourself. I talked to him about it. I told him my biggest fear was him overdosing on the stuff. That’s why I made the decision I have to talk about it with other people. I can’t keep that as a secret.”
Additionally, via the foundation Live Free 999, which honors Juice WRLD, Wallace says it’s now her mission to help others, especially young adults, dealing with mental health issues and drug addiction. She says, “That’s our objective with our foundation. Normalize the conversation, so it has to start with me. I hope it’s what he wanted, was a legacy of healing. To let people know that you don’t have to suffer alone.”
RELATED: Juice WRLD’s Mother Speaks Out On The Rapper’s Tragic Passing