NEWS'Euphoria' Star Angus Cloud First Used Opioids After Traumatic Head Injury at Age 15, Late Actor's Mom Reveals
Angus Cloud's addiction to drugs dated back to an opioid prescription he was provided at the young age of 15 after suffering a brutal brain injury.
Less than two months after the Euphoria star's devastating death from an accidental overdose, the late actor's mother opened up about her son's battle with substance abuse during a recent heart-wrenching interview.
Angus Cloud devastatingly died on Monday, July 31, at 25 years old.
"The drug use most likely had something to do with his need to relieve his pain. They were fierce," Angus' mom, Lisa, explained of her only son — who was left with minor brain damage in 2013 after falling into a construction pit and waking up 12 hours later trapped with internal bleeding and a broken skull, as Angus previously mentioned during an interview with another news outlet one year before his fatal overdose.
"I mean, there were [other] things that may have worked, but he never did any of them. And when you have that much pain, you just want relief," Lisa admitted, expressing understanding about Angus' struggles.
The 'Euphoria' star struggled with drug addiction since age 15.
Fast forward to the end of 2018 when Angus began filming Euphoria as the beloved character Fezco — a role that quickly skyrocketed his success as an actor.
At the time, both his mother and the HBO drama's creator, Sam Levinson, were admittedly unaware of his drug use.
"He went into these moods that were really awful, and he wasn't himself, and I now realize that's because he was on drugs," Lisa explained. "I think he had very deep feelings, and sometimes this world was ... he just couldn't handle it and didn't want to handle it."
Angus' mom continued: "Was that the demands of being a celebrity and everybody trying to make money off him? Or was that pills that he took for pain? I don't think you can really separate it."
Angus Cloud's mother, Lisa, said he used pills to deal with painful headaches after a brain injury.
During the pandemic, Angus suffered another painful injury on his heel, causing him to have to walk with a cane. He refused further treatment despite his mom begging him to undergo surgery.
"That’s really what started his drug-seeking behavior, I think. It was hugely painful. I was pushing him. I'm like, 'You're not going to start season two for at least four months. Do that heel surgery. It is a four-month recovery. Do it now.' But he just became unhappy, and he couldn't figure out how to deal with it," Lisa recalled.
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Knowing the struggle of drug addiction himself, Levinson proposed an intervention.
"I looked him in the eye and I knew that he wasn't doing well. At the same time I've been in these situations before where you're trying to get someone clean. And I just said to him, 'I love working with you and we've got this amazing season planned and stuff, but I need you to be sober because I got to be able to rely on you,'" said Levinson — who almost killed Angus' character off of the show but kept him on because of his real-life love for the actor.
Angus Cloud had trouble coping with the loss of his father roughly two months before his passing.
Angus gave in to Levinson's proposal and headed to a 30-day inpatient rehab program paid for by HBO. After, he participated in a three-month outpatient program – though he eventually relapsed, causing Levinson to stage another serious intervention before dropping Angus off at rehab for a second time.
Unfortunately, Angus later began using again and the death of his father back in May seemed to be too much for him to deal with, causing him to turn to drugs to deal with his grieving pain, ultimately leading to his deadly overdose at the young age of 25.
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