Juice Wrld’s mom, Carmela Wallace, is speaking out for the first time since losing her son.
Carmela spoke with ABC 7 Chicago and said she refuses to keep her son’s death a secret. She said,
“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.”
She hopes people who suffer from mental illness or substance abuse are inspired by her son. She opened up on how Juice expressed to her that he’s afraid to die from an overdose. He struggled with anxiety and should have gotten professional help but instead, self-medicated. Carmela said,
“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.”
Since Juice Wrld’s tragic passing, his mom dedicated her time to educate people on drug abuse and help those with mental illness. She named her foundation, inspired by her son called, Live Free 999 Foundation (the name was inspired by Juice’s favorite jacket).
“That’s our objective with our foundation. Normalize the conversation, so it has to start with me,” she said. “I hope it’s what he wanted, was a legacy of healing. To let people know that you don’t have to suffer alone,” Carmela said.
Juice Wrld was only 21 when he passed away last December from an accidental overdose.