LGBT and Identity Reporter
Getty imagesJames Lee Williams’s sister, better known as Vivienne, says that her family only learned about the battle of the drag artist with Ketamine addiction after seeing Drag Race Uk.
In an interview with BBC Newsnight, Chanel Williams, 35, says James had maintained the fight, including hospitalized due to drugs, a family secret “to protect them.”
The 32 -year -old man died in January, and the family then announced the cause of death as a heart trial caused by Bar Ketamine.
Chanel says his brother had “a very long period of sobriety” before falling, something that says he only discovered after James’s death.
“A big thing for me is now, if I had asked the questions or if I had looked for the signs, would the result be different?” She says.
The Vivienne was praised for speaking openly about the abuse of ketamine and the struggle to become sober while appearing in Drag Race UK, which was broadcast in 2019.
Chanel now continually expects that legacy when campaigning to encourage people to talk openly about substance abuse.
She believes that stigma around addiction and successful career of her brother on stage and television, Meean James did not seek professional help.
“He had talked openly in Drag’s career about the battles he had with addiction, and had come on the other side of that,” she says.
“I was in the apogee of everything I was doing and I think because I had said it on such an open platform, it is really spreading to come and say that you are fighting again.”
Chanel says she is concerned about the increase in young people who take ketamine, which believes it is partly because the drug is cheap and easily accessible.
James’s body was found in Chorlton-by-backford, near Chester, on January 5.
Police confirmed that there were no suspicious circumstances around death, and a post Mortem exam revealed an “unnatural cause of death.”
Complete investigation is scheduled for June 30. But in March, the family told BBC News that the star died by heart trial caused by the effects of taking ketamine.
Since they made the announcement, they have legs that work with the charity of abuse of adferiad substances to raise awareness and address stigma around the drug, something that Chanel says it is an “important step” in those who face addiction.
“It’s hard for me because I think stigma was there, would my brother have looked for the help I needed?” She says.
“Think that if we knew, or if we had sense to speak and really achieve the help that was needed, the result could be different.
“That’s why we have shared the story of James.”
Chanel and Re-Family are also campaigning for the Government to classify the ketamine of its current state as a class B drug for class A, which would put it in the same category as heroin and cocaine.
“There are a part of the younger people who may look at that classification and think it is less harmful than other drugs,” she says.
“But it’s not just about reclassification […] You must include education, police, health, to really raise awareness. We need a strategy on the use of drugs and drug deaths in the United Kingdom. “
Chanel WilliamsCurrently, the United Kingdom Government is looking for the advice of experts on the reclassification of ketamine, and the police minister, Dame Diana Johnson, writes to the Advisory Council on the Drug Mission (ACMD) that expresses its concern about the increase of young people who take the drug.
A spokesman from the Ministry of Interior said: “Our thoughts are with James’s family and friends, and all those affected by this tragic death, which has sadly reinforced the serious dangers of doing ketamine.
“We will not hesitate to act when the ACMD reports, and at the time, we continually work on health, surveillance and the broader public services to reduce drug use and prevent them from benefiting from their supply.”
Chanel said it had been difficult to share the information about how James had died, but that the family “talked about what we can do.”
“The Vivienne left a legacy as an icon of pioneers and this, I think, is James’s legacy. To help other people,” she says.
“If I can help a family not to feel what we are feeling, then everything is worth.”
You can see the full interview with Sister Chanel de Vivienne at BBC Newsnight at 10:30 in BBC Two and BBC IPLAYER.
