Juice WRLD’s mother, Carmela Wallace, has 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.”
The celebrated “Lucid Dreams” artist died of an accidental overdose in December 2019. Fighting Demons, the second posthumous Juice album, is expected on Dec. 10. On the same day as the release of the new album’s single “Already Dead” last month, the Tommy Oliver-directed documentary Juice WRLD: Into the Abyss premiered at AFI Fest.
In her letter, Carmela—who previously founded the Live Free 999 foundation in her Juice’s honor—looked back on a memory of trying to surprise her son with an MP3 player for his birthday when he turned nine. As Carmela explained, Juice ended up finding the gift early.
“You and I would have reminisced about previous birthdays and I’m sure we would have laughed once again about the mp3 player,” she said. “I would have tried to get as many birthday wishes in as possible like I always did on your birthday when we were together.”
Elsewhere in the birthday letter, Carmela noted the continued impact of her son’s art and how fans still regularly reach out to her about how his music helped them move through periods of depression and anxiety.
“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,” she said.
Read the full letter below. The photo above, captured on Oct. 17 of 2019, is the last photo taken of Carmela and Juice together.
“Dear Jarad,
In a joint statement shared alongside a Fighting Demons trailer last month, Carmela and Grade A (Lil Bibby’s label) explained that the new album is intended to further commemorate the artist’s 23rd birthday.
“We encourage all of you who struggle with addiction and mental illness to never give up the fight,” the joint statement, which also directed fans to the Live Free 999 site, read.
