Carmela Wallace, mother of the late rap sensation Juice WRLD, made her first TV appearance on the Tamron Hall Show Wednesday in Chicago.
Jarad Anthony Higgins unfortunately passed away in December 2019 due to a fatal overdose flying to Chicago for his birthday. His mother — who founded the Live Free 999 Foundation in honor of her son, aiding those struggling with the addiction — spoke on Juice’s battle with substance abuse, saying that his “best interest wasn’t being looked out for.”
“I just felt like his best interest wasn’t being looked out for. I think people had their own agendas and they liked the lifestyle. And they were young too, so they don’t see things the way we see them. But he just didn’t have the people in place to tell him to stop. He didn’t have that support system in place.”
Carmela Wallace, via Tamron Hall
While questioning the lifestyle choices of his inner circle, Wallace also discussed the months leading up to his death, divulging that she believed Jarad was trying get sober ahead of his trip back home. She said she could “tell the difference” in her son after he stopped using lean.
“I think he was still doing pills, but he told me he was ready to get help,” she told Hall. “It was just a special moment. We just had that moment where I just knew he was going to overcome it.”
In HBO’s new documentary Into The Abyss, Higgins and his inner circle are seen popping pills, buying codeine and drinking lean all throughout the film. As a gripping, behind-the-scenes look at the generational talent’s life and career during his DeathRace For Love tour, the drugs were the cause of Juice’s inevitable demise — fully aware of his addiction and speaking on it in almost every one of his tracks.
While Juice WRLD may be gone, he’ll never be forgotten as his music will live on and be cherished forever.
Check out our Juice WRLD Day coverage below!
