Daveigh Chase’s ‘devastated’ mum 'mentally preparing for this moment for years' as she addresses daughter's tragic death
Daveigh Chase’s mother Cathy has recalled the devastating moment she found out her daughter had died at the age of 35.
The Lilo & Stitch voice actor, also known for playing the little girl in The Ring, died of meningitis earlier this week, according to family members.
Her loved ones said she suffered with addiction and drifted into homelessness in her final years.
“I actually thought it was fake news, that first time I saw it, and then, but then all of a sudden, it's all of these different legitimate sites had her name and I realized that it wasn't fake,” Cathy said to the Daily Mail.
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Cathy would search up her daughter, who she last saw in 2019, every evening for her whereabouts, fearing the worst could happen.
"I would just put her name in the coroner's [search system] and see if her name came up and if somebody had her somewhere," she said.
"I would look at their list of unidentified bodies. It was very difficult, but you do everything you can as a mother."
Daveigh injured her back after a motorcycle accident around 2016, and Cathy said she would take painkillers, such as oxycodone, which she thinks marked the beginning of her addiction.
“She was seeking drugs and was partying with the wrong people. I never kicked my daughter out. She wanted freedom and these people got her hooked on some drugs. That was the beginning,” she added.
Cathy said she never abandoned her daughter and continually tried to help her.
But after going in and out of jail from 2018, the last time she saw her was during a visit.
“She was completely gone, like, out of her mind. I honestly thought there was something wrong with her,” Cathy, who would wait to pick her up after getting released, said.
“My daughter was never diagnosed with mental health other than PTSD. But the drugs took hold of her.
“It upsets me because people are saying I must've been a bad mother, but I never gave up on her.
“As a mother, you don't give up on your child. I was hoping she would still come home.”
It comes after footage obtained by The California Post shows Chase looking extremely ill and unable to move while inside a tent.
She was allegedly living in Skid Row, home to thousands of homeless people in LA.
"In the video, she was in a really bad shape. She was very frail. She was fragile. She was saying no, and trying to push the camera away, and they were shoving it in her face. It was gross," Cathy said.
"She was obviously drugged out of her mind. She was nothing but skin and bones and I didn't want to think that was my daughter."
Topics: Celebrity
Anish Vij