Featured Image Credit: Santiago Felipe/Getty Images
Topics: Celebrity, Film and TV, The Vivienne, UK News, Drugs, Mental Health
Gerrard Kaonga
Topics: Celebrity, Film and TV, The Vivienne, UK News, Drugs, Mental Health
The first winner of RuPaul's Drag Race UK died earlier this year and the coroner’s court heard many of the details of this death.
Drag artist James Lee Williams, known as The Vivienne, was found dead in the bathtub by a neighbor earlier this year and more details regarding their death have now been revealed.
The court also heard how the 32-year-old performer had privately struggled with addiction to ketamine and had relapsed after years of sobriety.
Williams had spoken about their addiction on an episode of TV show RuPaul's Drag Race and their father told the court this was the first they heard of their struggles.
Advert
On Monday (June 30), Cheshire Coroner's Court were told a neighbor, Janine Godbold, found the performer at their home after a friend grew concerned about their inability to get in touch with them.
Godbold said she had spoken to The Vivienne two days before to arrange a day out shopping as well. Authorities concluded that when the performer's body was found, they had already been dead for a few days.
She initially got a call from a friend asking if the performer had been in contact, she then used her key to check in on them, accompanied by her son, Ryan Godbold.
Speaking on the incident, Godbold said: “I went into the kitchen and Ryan [her son] went into the living room, we were calling [their] name and there was no answer. All the lights were on.
"As we got to the top of the stairs, Ryan went one way and I turned right. James' bedroom is there and there is a door to the ensuite.
"I looked at James' bed which was all ruffled, I initially thought Panda [The Vivienne's dog] had ragged the quilt on the bed.
"And then I walked past James' bed and into the bathroom and saw James in the bath, [they] just looked like [they were] sleeping."
When she ran over to them, she attempted to keep his head from going underwater and screamed for Ryan to call an ambulance.
The neighbor stayed with Williams from then onwards and when police and paramedics arrived, they noted it was immediately clear Williams had died some time ago.
Senior Coroner Jacqueline Devonish concluded that death by misadventure as the court heard the performer had died of cardiac arrest brought on by the drugs they had taken.
Devonish said she was satisfied that there was no evidence to suggest Williams intended to take their own life.