Getty Image / Jeff Kravitz / Contributor
Mac Miller, known to family and friends as Malcolm McCormick, passed away on Friday at 26. The music world has already displayed a tour de force of incredible tributes to the late rapper (as seen HERE and HERE). Now two people who knew Malcolm profoundly, his mother and his ex-girlfriend Ariana Grande, share tender photos of the hip-hop star.
Miller’s mother, Karen Meyers, shared a sentimental photo of her and her son at a Pittsburgh Pirates baseball game on Saturday. Meyers captioned the photo with a broken heart emoji.
On Friday, Miller’s family issued a statement. “Malcolm McCormick, known and adored by fans as Mac Miller, has tragically passed away at the age of 26. He was a bright light in this world for his family, friends and fans. Thank you for your prayers. Please respect our privacy. There are no further details as to the cause of his death at this time.”
On Saturday, Ariana Grande broke her silence on the tragic death of her former boyfriend of two years. Grande shared a sweet black and white photo of Mac sitting in the grass looking up at presumably Ariana, who is probably taking the photo. There was no caption of the pic.
https://www.instagram.com/p/Bneu_dCHVdn/?taken-by=arianagrande
Ariana disabled comments on her Instagram page on Friday after trolls blamed her for Miller’s death. Many people said that Grande’s recent engagement to Pete Davidson sent Miller into a devastating depression that ended with his overdose.
https://www.instagram.com/p/BKCG0XKAgz4/?utm_source=ig_embed
Grande and Miller collaborated on the hit song “The Way,” which was released on March 25, 2013. Miller and Grande officially became a couple in 2016, but the relationship ended in May of 2018. Grande started dating Davidson in May 2018, and were engaged by June of 2018.
In an interview with Zane Lowe on Beats 1 on Apple Music last July, Mac hit on several topics including his relationship with Grande. “I was in love with somebody. We were together for two years,” Miller said about Ariana. “We worked through good times, bad times, stress and everything else. And then it came to an end and we both moved on. And it’s that simple.”
There were reports that one of the reasons for the breakup was that Grande was extremely concerned about Miller’s substance abuse. After the breakup, Grande said the relationship with Miller was “toxic.”
“How absurd that you minimize female self-respect and self-worth by saying someone should stay in a toxic relationship because he wrote an album about them, which btw isn’t the case (just Cinderella is ab me),” Grande wrote on Twitter in May. “I am not a babysitter or a mother and no woman should feel that they need to be.”
https://twitter.com/ArianaGrande/status/999314187384901633
After the split, Grande also wrote that Mac is “one of my best friends in the whole world and favorite people on the planet.” In the Instagram post she added, “I respect and adore him endlessly and am grateful to have him in my life in any form, at all times regardless of how our relationship changes or what the universe holds for each of us! … Unconditional love is not selfish. It is wanting the best for that person even if at the moment, it’s not you.”
There are reports that Ariana is “devastated” by the tragic death of the 26-year-old rapper. “Although the two ended their relationship, Ariana always shared a deep connection with Mac and wanted nothing but the best for him,” a source told ET. “Ariana is very upset.”
A second source told ET that Grande is “heartbroken,” and “Despite their split, Ariana had always been supportive of his sobriety.”
[Variety]