Juice WRLD’s Family: 5 Fast Facts You Need to Know

Juice WRLD Instagram On right: Juice WRLD with his mother.

Juice WRLD’s family was largely defined by his life growing up with a single mother, he’s said in interviews. The rapper, whose birth name was Jarad Higgins, described his father as “in and out” of his childhood growing up. He also has been romantically connected to Ally Lotti over the years.

Higgins died of a seizure on Dec. 8, 2019, according to early reports. He was only 21 years old at the time of his death.

Here’s what you need to know:

1. Juice WRLD’s Parents Divorced When He Was Three Years Old; He Was Raised by His Mother

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According to a profile of Higgins in The Gulf-Times, his parents divorced when he was three years old. Born in Chicago, Illinois in 1998, Higgins moved to Homewood, Illinois, in 1999 and would spend a majority of his childhood moving around to different places in the area.

Though Higgins mostly praised his mother in every interview he gave, he was also a bit critical of how she raised him in certain respects. To Vulture, he talked about how he believed mental health was “neglected in the black community,” pointing out his own childhood as an example.

“I was diagnosed with attention deficit disorder in fifth grade, and my mom put me on Ritalin, Vyvanse, all of that,” he said. “And I looked back at it and I’m like, Wow, that was not okay. I’m in fifth grade. What am I doing taking Vyvanse and Ritalin? How is a fifth-grader supposed to act?”

Shortly after those comments, Higgins was asked whether he missed Chicago and replied, “Yeah and no. Yeah because I miss the food; I miss my mom a lot.”

2. Juice WRLD’s Mother Influenced His Musical Preferences by Not Letting Him Listen to Rap

In an interview with The Gulf-Times, Higgins said that his mother heavily influence his musical taste because she fatefully wouldn’t let him listen to rap.

[My mother] is a very religious person who loves gospel music,” he explained. “She stopped me listening to rap. I’d hear some rap thanks to my cousins but not much. I was primarily into pop and rock which my mother considered as more acceptable.”

Higgins also credited his cousins for influencing his musical taste, in an interview with Billboard. He said, “They put me on to Cassidy, one of the best battle rappers to do it; Meek Mill, when he had the braids. They gave me substance.”

3. Juice WRLD Described His Father as ‘In & Out’ of His Life

Higgins repeatedly said that he was raised primarily by his mother in a number of interviews.

In an interview on No Jumper (as seen above), he said, “I moved around a lot. I wasn’t in the same place for too long… My mom, she’s been in my life the whole time, my dad would jump in and out every now and then. That’s pretty much how that went.”

He concluded, “My mom’s pretty much been single parent-type sh*t.”

In an interview with Billboard in March 2019, Higgins suggested that his lack of a father figure could have influenced his struggles with addiction. He said,  “What do you expect if I’m a young dude that really loves music, really looks up to these artists? I didn’t have a man giving me no type of guidance. My father wasn’t in my life like that.”

4. Juice WRLD’s Girlfriend, Ally Lotti, Was Often Featured on His Instagram

Higgins’ girlfriend, Alexia “Ally” Lotti, was often featured in his photographs on social media over the years. The young rapper occasionally talked about Lotti in interviews, too. Lotti is famous in her own right; she has over 245,000 followers on Instagram. Her most recent pictures on the social media platform are all with Higgins.

To The New York Times in 2018, Higgins explained how he handled having a girlfriend with his skyrocketing career.

He said, “All my homies be like: ‘What you doing with a girlfriend? You got all this stuff going on.’ I love her, though. I can admit and say that I have feelings.”

5. Juice WRLD Spoke Out in the Past About His Addiction Struggles Which Began in Childhood

In a number of interviews, Higgins would talk about getting involved with drugs at an early age, as early as sixth grade. In an interview with HOT 107.9, a radio station, in 2019, he said, “My freshman year, I ran into some Percocets…fourteen years old.” He added, “I was trying to sip lean in sixth grade.”

Higgins continued, “There’s the people that’s doing that sh*t cause they like getting high…and they’re addicted, and there’s the people that do it for trends. And for the people that’s really in this sh*t, it’s not as easy as seeing somebody die.”

He concluded, “I thought when people do drugs, it separates their head from their bodies even more… ‘Cause your mind could be telling you ‘f*ck no’…but your body is dependent.”

Higgins was sober at the time of his death, and had quit cigarettes.

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