The sister of James Lee Williams, known as drag queen The Vivienne, has said their family only discovered the star’s ketamine addiction after watching RuPaul’s Drag Race UK.
Williams, who won the first series of the BBC competition in 2019, was found dead at their Cheshire home on 5 January.
The 32-year-old’s manager announced the cause of death as a cardiac arrest caused by ketamine use. A formal inquest is scheduled for June.
Speaking to Newsnight, Chanel Williams said Williams had kept their ketamine addiction a secret from their family to “protect them”. However, Williams spoke openly about their ketamine use on Drag Race.
The 35-year-old added that her brother had “a long period of sobriety” before relapsing, which the family only discovered after Williams’ death.
“A big thing for me now is, had I asked the questions or just looked for the signs, would the outcome be different?” she said.
“He’d spoken openly on Drag Race about the battles he’d had with addiction, and he’d come through the other side of that.”
Chanel continued: “He was at the height of everything he was doing and I think because he’d said it in such an open platform, it’s really difficult to come back and say you’re struggling again.”
Since Williams’ death, the family have been working with the substance abuse charity Adferiad to tackle the stigma around the drug in order to help those experiencing addiction.
“It’s hard for me because I think if that stigma wasn’t there, would my brother have sought the help he needed?” Chanel said.
“To think that if we’d known, or if he’d have felt able to talk and really reach out for the help that was needed, the outcome could’ve been different.
“That’s why we’ve shared James’s story,” she added.
Williams’ family are also campaigning for the government to re-classify ketamine from a Class B drug to a Class A to deter use.
The number of young people being admitted to rehab due to ketamine abuse is rising, with both specialist clinics and the NHS reporting a significant increase in recent years.
The drug is a general anaesthetic that reduces sensations in the body which can make users feel dream-like and detached, chilled, relaxed and happy, but also confused and nauseated, according to the UK national anti-drug advisory service, Frank.
In the year ending March 2023, an estimated 299,000 people aged 16 to 59 had reported use of the substance.
“There’s a portion of younger people that maybe look at that classification and think it’s less harmful than other drugs,” Chanel said.
“But it’s not just about reclassification... it needs to include education, police, health, to really raise awareness. We need a strategy around drug usage and drug deaths in the UK.”
She added: “The Vivienne left a legacy as a trailblazing icon and this, I feel, is James's legacy: to help other people. If I can help one family to not feel what we are feeling, then it's all worth it.”
During their appearance on RuPaul’s Drag Race UK, Williams had openly discussed a four-year period of drug addiction.
“It was party, drugs, but I couldn’t leave the drugs at the party – it was constant for me”, they said.
Their addiction was a “habit that caught on a bit too quick and a bit too hard”, they said.
“I had to be kicked out of my house and told that I would be dead by the time I was 30.
“It was the loneliest part of my life, I was killing myself… and my family don’t even know. I was pissing my life up the wall and I could’ve been dead now if I didn’t do anything about it.”
If you have been affected by this article, you can contact the following organisations for support: actiononaddiction.org.uk, mind.org.uk, nhs.uk/livewell/mentalhealth, mentalhealth.org.uk.
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