The Vivienne's mother shares heartbreaking family update after tragic ketamine death

The Vivienne’s mother, Caroline, is “plodding on one day at a time” seven months after the Drag Race star’s sudden death. James Lee Williams, who went by The Vivienne professionally, died in January from a cardiac arrest caused by a ketamine overdose.

The Drag Race UK winner’s friends and family pay tribute to the TV star’s career and reflect on his tragic death in tonight’s BBC Three documentary Dear Viv. Speaking about the loss of James, Caroline said: “Every day after that has been not believing it. It’s a battle. It’s a real battle.”

James’s sister Chanel reveals how she found her brother’s body in his house, having planned to meet him for lunch with her daughters that day.

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“I was due to take the girls to see him that day for lunch,” she says through tears. “I’d had a few missed calls and it was my brother’s best friend and I thought that was out of the ordinary. He said, ‘Have you heard from James?’

“We drove to the house and there was ambulance, police and I just wanted to run straight up the stairs. We went in and he was lying on the floor. He just looked really peaceful.”

James had opened up about his addiction to ketamine while on RuPaul’s Drag Race UK in 2019, having been four years sober at the time of filming.

“I didn’t know until that point about it at all so he obviously hid it from me,” Caroline tells the documentary. “I said, ‘Why did you want to say that on there? I didn’t know.’ But he was open and honest.” Chanel adds: “I think he held that from us to protect us.”

While James went on to appear in Emmerdale, The Wizard of Oz in a UK tour and Dancing on Ice after finding Drag Race fame, he relapsed shortly before his death.

His manager Simon Jones tells the documentary: “I knew about Viv’s ketamine addiction. Viv and I were so close, she was completely open with me. I didn’t know until later with us working together that it had reared its head again.

“There were times when it crept back in and there were times when it disappeared. I did everything I could as a manager - therapy, counsellors, everything we could do when Viv needed that help. We spoke very openly about it.”

He added that the future looked incredibly bright for James before his untimely death. “So much of Viv’s life was based around wanting to be successful. The really sad part of all this was that 2025 was going to be amazing for Viv."

Paying tribute to the legacy that James left behind, Drag Race star Lawrence Bolton - known as Tia Kofi - said: “Viv has done a huge amount to bring drag in the UK back into the mainstream. Viv was bringing it back from where it once was. She was the next one to take that crown from Lily Savage.” Since James' death, Chanel has fought to raise awareness of the dangers of ketamine and to make it a Class A drug.

"As soon as I was aware that my brother had passed away as a result of ketamine, I started to do some research, and that's where I first realised that ketamine currently sits as a Class B drug," she said.

"Immediately, I thought that can't be right and if it is right, that needs to change. There's a big part of me that couldn't help him, so this is our way together of helping other people."

In heartbreaking scenes, Caroline shares what she wishes she could tell James now, saying through tears: “I don’t know what I’m going to do without you. Keep safe in heaven, keep Max safe for us. Did I say how proud I was?”

Dear Viv airs tomorrow night at 9pm on BBC Three.

Frank offers confidential advice about drugs and addiction (email frank@talktofrank.com, message 82111 or call 0300 123 6600) or the NHS has information about getting help.

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