Friends and mother of Juice Wrld are expressing the growing concerns they had for the fallen rapper as a result of his heavy drug use before his tragic death in 2019.
On Monday (May 3), a new interview with GQ about the Legends Never Die rhymer's life and death was published. During the conversation that took place about the 21-year-old Chicago native's battle with addiction, Max Lord—a longtime collaborator of Juice—reveals that an intervention for the rapper was held a week before his death. Juice reportedly agreed to attend rehab.
"We had just broken down a lot of barriers with him," Lord said. "I and a couple other people had come to him in tears, like, 'We're worried about you, and we're scared we're going to lose you if you keep up these habits. And we have to do something.' And he agreed."
Lord also divulged that Juice Wrld was scheduled to go to a rehabilitation center with a visit booked for Dec. 22, 2019.
"And we had treatment booked for later [starting on Dec. 22]," Lord added. "That was the soonest they were available to get him in. It hurts. It really hurts." Unfortunately, Juice died of an accidental overdose two weeks before his admission date.
Before Lord disclosed information regarding the intervention that took place for Juice Wrld, the Grammy Award-nominated mixing engineer explains how Juice snuck around to do drugs like prescription opioids and lean—codeine mixed with soda—to keep his friends from noticing he had a problem.
“He was hiding and compartmentalizing how much he was doing with different people," Lord continued. "He’d come into the studio room and act like he hasn’t gotten high at all that day, and do a certain amount in there before I tell him, ‘Bro, no, chill.’ Then he was going upstairs and hanging out with the guys and doing the same thing."
Juice Wrld's mom, Carmela Wallace, also shared that she knew the cause of her son's death before the official autopsy results came in.
"Even before the tests came back, I knew what [he died] from," she explained. "And I made the decision from the beginning that I’m not going to hide it. I want people to know the seriousness of it."
In honor of Juice, Ms. Wallace launched the Live Free 999 Foundation in April of 2020 to support youth struggling with mental health.
According to The New York Times in December of 2019, Juice Wrld passed away after experiencing a seizure following an accidental overdose at Chicago Midway Airport on December 8, 2019. Juice had a long history of struggling with drug addiction and he often used his lyrics to paint pictures of his struggles with songs like "Lean Wit Me."
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