Cathy Chase said she hadn’t seen her daughter since 2019 after the “Lilo & Stitch” actress was released from jail while grappling with substance abuse.
Daveigh Chase, ‘The Ring’ and ‘Lilo and Stitch’ star, dies at 35
Daveigh Chase, the young actress best known for “The Ring” and “Lilo & Stitch,” has reportedly died. She was 35.
Daveigh Chase’s mother has shared details about what led to the death of the “Lilo & Stitch” actress.
The former child star died at age 35 on Tuesday, June 16, from meningitis and an infection in her blood, her boyfriend, Roy Hernandez, told TMZ. The outlet also reported that Chase had been admitted to a Los Angeles hospital earlier this month for malnutrition. Daveigh’s father, John Schwallier, confirmed the cause of death, revealing that she was homeless and living in Los Angeles with her boyfriend near the hospital where she died.
In an interview with the Daily Mail published Saturday, June 20, her mother, Cathy Chase, shared that “The Ring” actress had long struggled with drug addiction after a 2016 motorcycle accident. She said doctors prescribed her daughter oxycodone among other painkillers after the accident injured her back, prompting her substance abuse issues and an unhealthy lifestyle.
“She was seeking drugs and was partying with the wrong people,” she told the outlet. “I never kicked my daughter out. She wanted freedom and these people got her hooked on some drugs. That was the beginning.”
Daveigh Chase’s mother hadn’t seen her since 2019
Cathy Chase said she hadn’t seen her daughter since October 2019, according to the Daily Mail. She said the actress had several run-ins with law enforcement and that Daveigh was never diagnosed with any mental health problems aside from PTSD from the crash, but that “I honestly thought there was something wrong with her.”
“She was completely gone, like, out of her mind,” she said. “The drugs took hold of her.”
Cathy said Daveigh agreed to be picked up from jail at a certain time, but when Cathy arrived, her daughter had already left. She said she blamed herself despite a hospital chaplain telling her not to, saying, “I am a mother who loved her daughter so much.”
“But when I got there, she never waited. She went back to the streets and I couldn’t find her,” she added. “I will live forever feeling I failed her because they told me the wrong time when she was released [from jail] all those years ago.”
Cathy Chase said she searched for her daughter Daveigh in L.A.
Cathy said she searched for her daughter in downtown Los Angeles’ Skid Row neighborhood, known for its high concentration of unhoused people, to no avail.
When she learned of her daughter’s death, Cathy said she didn’t believe it at first, until more and more reports emerged. She later went to the hospital to identify Daveigh’s remains, where she prayed over her body.
“I was devastated,” she said. “It felt like something inside of me squeezing all of the air out of me, and at the same time, It felt like I was exploding outwardly.”
Chase got her first big role in Hollywood at age 10 when she played Jake Gyllenhaal’s younger sister, Samantha, in the 2001 psychological thriller “Donnie Darko.” She continued to find success as a voice actress: playing the young heroine Chihiro in the English-language dub of Hayao Miyazaki’s “Spirited Away,” and the Hawaiian misfit Lilo in Disney’s 2002 animated hit “Lilo & Stitch.”
If you or someone you know is struggling or in crisis, you can call the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration Helpline at 1-800-662-HELP (4357).