Williams’ struggles with substance abuse were well documented prior to his passing. In a 2020 interview with Men’s Health, The Wire star spoke candidly about turning to drugs as an adolescent and relapsing after shooting the first season of Lovecraft Country.
Williams said that as a teen, he was “plagued” by his sensitive personality, explaining, “It was one of the things that led me to attempt suicide. I was 17. I was lost. I was very awkward with the ladies. Drugs were there. And I was already self-medicating. And I just got lost. I just remember feeling like, ‘Eh, maybe the world will be better off without me.’ And I took a bottle of pills, woke up to my stomach being pumped.”
Decades later, while working to maintain his sobriety, Williams said playing Montrose Freeman in Lovecraft Country “woke up a lot of demons,” which led him to enter therapy.
