Angus Cloud’s mother has dismissed speculation that the actor’s recent and unexpected death – occurring within a week of his father’s funeral – may have intentionally been of his own doing.
Lisa Cloud McLaughlin published a statement on Facebook over the weekend which asserted that her son “was reorganizing his room and placing items around the house with the intent to stay a while in the home he loved” before his death on 31 July shocked the entertainment world.
“Although my son was in deep grief about his father’s untimely death … his last day was a joyful one,” McLaughlin’s statement said. “He spoke of his intent to help provide for his sisters at college and also help his mom emotionally and financially. He did not intend to end his life.
“When we hugged goodnight, we said how much we loved each other and he said he would see me in the morning.”
The mother of the actor who portrayed the character Fezco on the hit HBO show Euphoria acknowledged the possibility that an ongoing investigation into her son’s death may ultimately conclude that he fatally “overdosed”. Yet she insisted that he would have died in that manner “accidentally and tragically”.
“I don’t know if or what he may have put in his body,” McLaughlin’s statement said. “I only know that he put his head on the desk where he was working on arts [projects], fell asleep and didn’t wake up.
“But it’s abundantly clear that he did not intend to check out of this world.”
In the statement, McLaughlin added that her remarks about her 25-year-old son were meant to address “social media posts [which] have suggested his death was intentional”.
“I want you to know that is not the case,” she reiterated.
Born in Oakland, California, Cloud became a favorite of Euphoria fans because of his work on the show as the fictional drug dealer Fezco “Fez” O’Neill. He clinched the role despite never having acted – a casting scout for the show reportedly noticed him walking down the street in New York and recruited him.
Cloud at first suspected a scam. But then he met with Euphoria casting director Jennifer Venditti, and series creator Sam Levinson ended up making him a co-star of the actor Zendaya on the show, which has aired two seasons.
It bothered Cloud that some Euphoria viewers publicly assumed that he was just playing himself whenever he stepped into the role of Fezco. Reports in April about how an alleged former manager of Cloud had detailed the actor’s struggle with substance abuse only reinforced that notion.
However, “I brought a lot to the character,” Cloud had said to Variety. “You can believe what you want. It ain’t got nothing to do with me.”
Cloud’s father, Conor Hickey, died on 18 May from mesothelioma, a cancer that is often caused by exposure to asbestos.
The actor had “intensely struggled with the loss” of Hickey, whose family held a funeral for him in his native Ireland in July. In one of his last social media posts, Angus Cloud shared a photo of Hickey on Instagram with the caption: “miss u breh”.
The news outlet Entertainment Tonight obtained recordings of a call that Lisa Cloud made to emergency responders shortly before her son was found dead in their family home.
McLaughlin reported on the call that Angus did not have a pulse and was not breathing after what she called a “possible overdose”, according to Entertainment Tonight.
Nonetheless, as of Sunday, authorities had not established a cause of death for Cloud, whose survivors also include his twin sisters, Molly and Fiona.
McLaughlin’s statement asked fans of her late son to “make random acts of kindness part of … daily life” if they wanted to honor his memory.
English (US)