ARIANA Grande would ‘assume the worst’ and ‘blow up’ the phones of Mac Miller’s friends with messages of concern after she hadn’t heard from the star months before his tragic death, according to a new book .
The “Thank U, Next” singer and the “Swimming” rapper began dating in late 2016 after years of friendship. They would amicably separate two years later in May 2018 – four months before Mac was found dead of an accidental overdose aged 26.
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The reason for their split was never clearly revealed by Mac or Ariana, however, it was hinted that Miller’s long-standing struggles with substance abuse and drug addiction put an irrevocable strain on their relationship.
Just over a week after their split, Miller was arrested and charged with drunk driving after he crashed his 2016 Mercedes G-Wagon into a telephone pole near his home in Brentwood, LA and fled the scene. .
Some of Miller’s fans blamed Ariana for the incident. However, the pop superstar refused to accept blame, writing in a tweet that she was ‘not a babysitter or a mother and no woman should feel like she has to be’. .
“I’ve taken care of him and tried to support his sobriety and prayed for his balance for years (and of course always will),” she replied. “But humiliating/blaming women for a man’s inability to stay together is a very big deal. Let’s stop doing that.”
A “STABILIZING” FORCE
In his new book, “Most Dope: The Extraordinary Life of Mac Miller”, author Paul Cantor finds out how far Ariana Grande has gone to keep Miller away from drugs and alcohol, with friends of the late rapper describing her as a “stabilizing” force in his life.
Mac’s longtime DJ Clockwork told Cantor that Ariana was a “huge reason he stayed sober” during their relationship.
“Being with her made him want to stay sober,” he said in the book. “He took everything seriously; he was in love, he made money, did shows. After the shows, he wouldn’t even go to the green room. Sometimes he would kick us out and he would just talk to her , right after the show.
“We all knew it was good for him,” Clockwork added. “When he was with her, he was completely one hundred percent sober.”
But when he wasn’t in Ariana’s sights, concern for Miller lingered.
While working on an album originally titled Guidelines in 2017 – which would later become the commercially acclaimed swimming – Mac reportedly disappeared for three to four days straight, not telling anyone where he was or where. he had been.
Mac’s disappearing act reportedly caused frequent concern for Ariana, who would frantically text her friends asking if they’d heard from her.
“There were times when Ariana would text me,” producer and longtime Mac friend Big Jerm, who was living with the star at the time, told Cantor. “She would be blowing me up. She couldn’t get in touch with him and it was like, ‘Yeah, he’s not with me either,’ so…”
“I mean, she could be dramatic,” he added. “But when I say dramatic, she assumed the worst. She knew stuff about drugs before. She was very protective of him, in a loving way. She just wanted to make sure he was safe or whatever.
Big Jerm says Ariana would ask him to tell Mac to call him.
“I didn’t want to meddle in their business,” Big Jerm said. “But I understood where she came from.”
SHOCK SPLIT
Months later, the couple would split with Ariana announcing the split in a post on her Instagram page.
“Hi! This is one of my best friends in the whole world and favorite people on the planet Malcolm McCormick,” Grande’s post began.
“I respect and adore him endlessly and am grateful to have him in my life in any form, anytime, no matter how our relationship changes or what the universe has in store for each of us!
“Unconditional love is not selfish,” she continued. “It’s wanting the best for that person even if right now it’s not you.”
Mac, meanwhile, decided to keep mum on the situation.
Sources close to the couple said at the time that Mac and Ariana had in fact separated several weeks earlier.
“Ariana held Mac together for a long time,” a source told US Weekly. “And it wasn’t a good relationship for her.”
Within days, Ariana was confirmed to be dating comedian Pete Davidson after the couple met on the set of Saturday Night Live. In June 2018, they were engaged.
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The following month, Mac broke his silence on his ex’s new relationship, calling it “strange but not negative” in an interview with Apple Music’s Zane Lowe.
“I was in love with someone. We had been together for two years,” he explained. “We went through good times, bad times, stress and everything. And then it happened. finished and we both left. And it’s as simple as that.
“Everything is positive energy,” he said. “I’m happy for her to move on with her life, just as I’m sure she is with me.”
THE TRAGIC DEATH OF MAC
Within weeks, Mac Miller would be found unresponsive by his assistant inside his home on September 7, 2018.
Turning blue and with foaming liquid escaping from her mouth, Mac’s assistant called 911 and attempted CPR, but it was too late.
Mac was officially pronounced dead at 11:51 a.m.
Investigators later discovered that he died accidentally after consuming a counterfeit Oxycodone pill – a type of opioid – which had been mixed with a lethal dose of fentanyl.
Cocaine, ethanol and alcohol were also found in his system at the time.
Mac’s assistant said his mood in the days leading up to his death had been “positive” and the star had no known health issues or illnesses.
However, she acknowledged that he struggled with sobriety and when he relapsed, he often used drugs, including Xanax and opiates, in “excess”.
Her last “slip”, she said, had come days earlier, on September 4.
Following Miller’s death, Ariana shared a heartfelt Instagram post honoring her “dearest friend.”
“I have adored you since the day I met you when I was nineteen and always will,” she wrote. “I can’t believe you’re gone. I really can’t understand. We talked about it. So many times. I’m so angry, I’m so sad that I don’t know what to do.
“You were my dearest friend. For so long. Above anything else. I’m so sorry that I couldn’t fix or take away your pain. I really wanted that. Kindest, sweetest soul with demons he never deserved. I hope you’re okay now. Rest.
A ‘LOVE RELATIONSHIP’
In an interview with Vogue the following year, she told writer Rob Haskell how she spent almost every waking moment during her 2017 Dangerous Woman tour “desperately following [Miller’s] where he was to make sure he wasn’t on a bender.”
The former Disney star said that although their relationship was far from perfect, she called Mac “the best person ever, [who] didn’t deserve the demons he had.”
She continued: “I was the glue for so long and found myself getting . . . less and less sticky. The pieces just started floating around.
In an interview with The Sun, Cantor said his biggest surprise when writing “Most doped” learned how loving Mac and Ariana Grande’s relationship was, even after they split.
“I thought going into it – because the relationship he had at the end of his life became such a big story in the press – I thought there would be a lot more salaciousness towards Ariana and their romance,” he said.
“What I’ve really found is that it was a very loving, very supportive, very real relationship back when it existed.
“She was really nice to him, and he was really nice to her too.”
Cantor said as a journalist he thought digging into the couple’s relationship would be like “opening Pandora’s box” – but he was wrong.
“In reality, their relationship turned out to be exactly what it was: two people who loved each other at the time and cared about each other.
“There wasn’t a lot of mystery there,” he added. “She was a really positive force in his life – a really positive force.
“I think if you look at his career…it’s a period of his life where there was a lot of unbridled happiness.
“A lot of that happiness came during the time he was with Ariana.”
Most Dope: The Extraordinary Life of Mac Miller is now available for purchase in the United States. The book will be released in the UK on March 3.
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