Juice WRLD, mom Carmela Wallace
Mother Of Late Musician Juice WRLD Opens Up About The Rapper’s Struggles With Addiction, Says His Inner Circle Were Enablers
This week Carmela WallaceMother of a late musician Juice WRLD, talked about her son’s shocking death, rise to fame, his new posthumous music and the new documentary about her son. In an emotional interview, Wallace opened up about her son’s battle with addiction and mental health issues and shared insight into his meteoric rise to fame. Wallace also shared childhood memories of JuiceWRLD and spoke out about her son’s tragic death from accidental overdose in 2019.
Carmela Wallace on her son’s inner circle who she viewed as enablers:
“I just felt like his best interest wasn’t being looked out for. I believe people had their agendas. They liked the lifestyle. I must admit that they were young. They’re young so they don’t see things the way we would see it but I just think that he just didn’t have the people in place to just tell him to stop or to know [what was really wrong]. He just didn’t have that support system in place.”
Carmela Wallace talks about how one of his songs made her see the gravity and pain of his struggles.
“I was very honest with him about my fear. I remember there was an incident when I was done working and I was doing errands and I said ‘I want to put on one of his songs.’ This one particular day, I was listening to a song ‘Stuck In The Maze’ and I just began to weep. I was sobbing, this was several months before his passing. I was so scared that I told him. I shared my experiences with him. I told him, ‘If you ever die like that, it would change my life forever. I just wouldn’t be the same.’ I just could not stop the tears [when listening to the song] because I knew ultimately the end of that is either you get help or you’re not gonna make it.”
Wallace reveals, “Juice WRLD” had made the decision before his death to seek professional help.
[Tamron] “Was he ready to go to rehab?”
“He sounded like it. He looked exactly like himself months before that September visit. You know, like my baby. It was so much fun hanging out together. I brought him one his favorite Chicago sandwiches. We were just hanging out and you know, he wasn’t doing the lean anymore. I could tell there was a difference in him and that he wasn’t doing the lean. He was probably still taking pills, but he said he was ready for help. It was a very special moment. We just had that moment where I just knew he was going to overcome it.”
Wallace on how she heard the news of her son’s overdose and passing:
“My nephew called me at 3am and he told me that he [Juice WRLD] had a seizure. He said ‘But he’s okay. He’s at the hospital. They’ve taken him to the hospital.’ So, I go to the hospital and I just wanted to get to him, I was just trying to get to him. And so, we come in and the guards are there and they’re not letting me go right through. They already knew what was going on, I didn’t know. I just wanted him to be there. I just wanted him to be there. I just wanted to make certain he was okay. Once we get up there, they take us into another room and we were just sitting and I just didn’t really understand why we were sitting there. I just needed to get to him. I needed to check if he was okay. Then the doctor came out and said he didn’t make it. He said that they tried to revive him. They tried using many things and it just didn’t work. I was devastated. I had thought, ‘okay, maybe this would be his wake up call and you know he’ll be okay.’ But it just never happened. I was never able to get to him to make sure that he was okay.”
