The Vivnenne's family opens up on the death of the tragic Drag Race star: 'It was so unexpected...'
The Vivienne's death was "completely unexpected", according to his family, and now they are heading up a campaign to change the Class B drug ketamine to Class A.
The Vivienne's death was "so unexpected", according to his family.
The former 'Drag Race UK' star - whose real name was James Lee Williams - suffered a cardiac arrest after taking ketamine in January at the age of 32 and now the performer's sister Chanel Williams has opened up on how the tragedy has left the whole family "completely devastated" as they try to "raise awareness" of the dangers that come with taking the drug.
Speaking on ITV's 'Lorraine', she said: "It’s completely devastated us all, it was so unexpected and he loved life, so now reflecting on everything you just think what can we take from this now and what can we do.
"As a family we are really passionate about turning this into something where we can make a difference and make change and raise awareness around the drug ketamine, the dangers that are associated with that and that’s part of his legacy if we can help even one more person.
"I think that goes back to the stigma that is around and trying to break that stigma down because James was quite open,about his previous struggles and he’d gone through long periods of sobriety so for us as a family, we didn’t know that struggle that was clearly going on towards the end of his life."
Chanel explained that the drug's current classification does not align with the "risks" that come with taking it wants to have it changed from a Class B drug to Class A.
She added: "I think that’s where the classification of the drug currently isn’t in line with the risks that are associated. I’m fearful that the younger generation, where it is more prevalent, feel that it’s less harmful.
"I really want to push, it’s top of my list to get the drug reclassified and raise awareness. I just had a conversation with Tracey who’s the mother of Sophie Russell, who’s a mother, heart breaking, who is going through the same thing. This is for James, it’s for Sophie and it’s for everybody that’s currently affected or has been affected by Ketamine. We are going to keep in contact and really campaign for a change.”
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