Exclusive | ‘Lilo & Stitch’ star Daveigh Chase’s father reacts to her tragic death from AIDS
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The father of “Lilo & Stitch” star Daveigh Chase was not surprised to hear his daughter died of AIDS, telling The California Post the diagnosis was expected considering the reckless life she lived as an addict on LA’s skid row for more than a decade.
Chase, a former child actress known for her prominent roles in “Lilo & Stitch” and “The Ring,” died in a Los Angeles hospital on June 16, at the age of 35. Chase’s cause of death was revealed to be AIDS, according to a release from the Los Angeles County Medical Examiner Monday.
“Chronic polysubstance use” was also listed under “other significant conditions,” leading to her death.
Chase’s father, John Schwallier, told The Post the cause of death “doesn’t surprise” him … adding “it is what it is” and that “it’s something you sometimes have to expect with the lifestyle she was living.”
Schwallier said that Chase’s remains went to her mother, Cathy, and that he had not seen Chase in person since she was about six years, though they spoke on the phone as she was growing up.
Shwallier said he’s willing to go to court in order to get some of his daughter’s cremated remains if he has to, and plans on putting them in a handmade box in his home in the Philippines if and when they’re obtained.
“I had an empty feeling inside for not being with her for all these years,” he said.
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Chase had struggled for years battling addiction and homelessness on Skid Row in Los Angeles, The Post first reported. An image showed a terrifyingly-thin Chase almost unconscious in a tent or trailer just months before she died.
Chase’s manager and friends had allegedly tried to get her off the streets for years and get her checked into a rehab, but she refused.
Aside from her voice acting in “Lilo & Stitch,” Chase also voiced the lead character, Chihiro Ogino, in the English dubbed version of the famous Japanese animation “Spirited Away.”
The former actress had last appeared on a thriller film called “American Romance” in 2016 before completely leaving the public eye.
Her alleged boyfriend, Roy Hernandez, set up a GoFundMe and claimed that she was “bullied and struggled to find safety and happiness in downtown LA.”
“When we met, I promised to protect her and give her the love and comfort she deserved. Together we found moments of happiness and hope,” he added.
The GoFundMe has raised over $4,100 from its $5,500 goal but Chase’s manager of more than a decade called it out, stating that “none of us friends or her family has heard of” Hernandez.