Daveigh Chase’s dad says her death from AIDS is what it is and was expected with her lifestyle
Daveigh Chase‘s father, John Schwallier, wasn’t shocked by his daughter passing away from AIDS.
In an interview with The California Post published on Monday, June 29,
Schwallier said the former child star’s cause of death being attributed to acquired immunodeficiency syndrome “doesn’t surprise” him, noting “it is what it is” and that “it’s something you sometimes have to expect with the lifestyle she was living.”
Schwallier told the outlet the last time he saw Daveigh — who voiced Lilo in Lilo & Stitch — in person was when she was about six years old, but they spoke on the phone when she was growing up.
In an interview with The New York Times after Daveigh’s death, Schwallier said he last spoke to the Donnie Darko actress when she was 19 and that she had a bad falling-out with her mom, Cathy Chase, at the time. He also told The New York Times Daveigh “had struggled with drugs since the age of 13.” Schwallier and Cathy divorced when Daveigh was young.
“I had an empty feeling inside for not being with her for all these years,” Schwallier told The California Post.
As for Daveigh’s remains, Schwallier said they went to Cathy and that he’d be willing to go to court to get some of her cremated remains if necessary, as he wants to keep them in a handmade box in his home in the Philippines, per the outlet.
As In Touch previously reported, Daveigh passed away on Tuesday, June 16, at 35 years old. The L.A. County Medical Examiner listed her primary cause of death as AIDS and put chronic polysubstance down as a significant condition, TMZ reported on Monday, June 29.
The Ring star was seemingly living on Skid Row at one point, according to a video obtained by The New York Post where she looked emaciated and nearly unconscious.
Meanwhile, Cathy spoke to the Daily Mail in an interview published Friday, June 19, revealing that she thinks her daughter’s addiction troubles started in 2016 after she was prescribed painkillers for a motorcycle accident.
“It upsets me because people are saying I must’ve been a bad mother, but I never gave up on her,” Cathy said. “As a mother, you don’t give up on your child. I was hoping she would still come home.”
