Juice WRLD’s Mother Gives First TV Interview Since His Death: ‘He Told Me He Was Ready to Get Help’

In a new interview on the 'Tamron Hall Show,' Juice WRLD's mother Carmella Wallace opened up about how her son's inner circle enabled his drug use.

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Juice WRLD’s mother Carmella Wallace stopped by the Tamron Hall Show this week for her first televised interview since her son’s 2019 death at the age of 21.

While speaking about Juice’s struggles with addiction and substance abuse, Wallace was asked if there were certain people in the late rapper’s inner circle who enabled his lifestyle choices. 

“I just felt like his best interest wasn’t being looked out for,” Wallace said. “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.”

Wallace maintained that some people close to Juice would reach out to her to share their concerns, but not those in his “inner, inner circle.”

“I told him of my fears of him overdosing and encouraged him to speak to the psychologist I arranged for him to speak with,” she said. “But he was 19 and he knew everything. And the people around him, some of them would reach out to me. But not the inner, inner circle.”

Elsewhere in the conversation, Wallace discussed the months leading up to her son’s death, revealing that she believes Juice was preparing to get sober prior to his fatal overdose.

“I could tell there was a difference in him and that he wasn’t doing the lean,” she recalled. “I think he was still doing pills, but he told me he was ready to get help. It was just a special moment. We just had that moment where I just knew he was going to overcome it.”

Back in December, Wallace shared a moving letter to her son on what would have marked his 23rd birthday.

“When you were born 23 years ago, I never expected that you would not to be here today celebrating your birthday,” Carmela’s letter reads. “Although it has been nearly two years since you’ve been gone, I still think about you every day and losing you has changed my life forever.  I’m glad that we always made sure that we said goodbye when we left each other because we didn’t know when we would see each other again.”

Wallace continued, “I promise to continue your message of healing and use Live Free 999 as an avenue to normalize the conversation around mental health and substance dependency and help those who suffer in silence.”

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