Juice WRLD’s family breaks their silence following the untimely passing of their 21-year-old son. In a statement to TMZ reported on Thursday (Dec. 12), Juice’s mother, Carmella Wallace, detailed the late rapper’s struggles with drug addiction.
“We loved Jarad with all of our hearts and cannot believe our time with him has been cut short,” Wallace said. “As he often addressed in his music and to his fans, Jarad battled with prescription drug dependency.”
Wallace said that the inclusion of drugs in Juice’s music was not meant to promote abusing the substances, but to make others battling addiction feel less alone.
“Addiction knows no boundaries and its impact goes way beyond the person fighting it,” she continued. “Jarad was a son, brother, grandson, friend and so much more to so many people who wanted more than anything to see him defeat addiction.”
Wallace closed her statement by saying she hopes that others dealing with addiction will learn from Juice’s story going forward.
“We hope the conversations he started in his music and his legacy will help others win their battles as that is what he wanted more than anything,” she said. “We know that Jarad’s legacy of love, joy and emotional honesty will live on.”
Several members of the rap community have denounced drugs following Juice’s death. The rapper suffered a seizure after swallowing several Percocet pills and died in Chicago on Sunday (Dec. 8). The cause of his death is still unknown, but his ex-girlfriend and family members have confirmed the details of his drug addiction.
Juice was set to be a headlining performer at the Los Angeles Rolling Loud Festival later this month. Performing artists Lil Pump, Lil Mosey and Tyla Yaweh are reportedly going to pay tribute to the “Lucid Dreams” rapper by performing his music, sharing video footage of him and more.