Daveigh Chase’s mum details previously unheard reason the late Disney child star was homeless

Following the heartbreaking news that former child star Daveigh Chase had passed away, her estranged mum has shared insight into the events that led to her living on the street.

Daveigh died last week after being hospitalised for complications born from malnutrition; she’d developed meningitis and a blood infection. Her dad and her manager confirmed the sad news, with the latter revealing that Daveigh had “millions” in residuals just lying there.

The actress, who also won awards for her part in The Ring, had been living on the street for years, battling serious addictions to substances like heroin and fentanyl.

“I was devastated. It felt like something inside of me squeezing all of the air out of me, and at the same time, It felt like I was exploding outwardly,” Daveigh’s mum, Cathy Chase, told the MailOnline.

“I let out this guttural scream and I just was running. And these weird sounds were coming out of me, these kind of, like, primeval sounds. And I went out into the backyard, and I was screaming, ‘No, no, no, no!’ I am in so much pain but I hope her soul heard me.”

Sadly, she had been mentally preparing for that moment for years, searching daily for updates on her daughter.

“I would just put her name in the coroner’s [search system] and see if her name came up and if somebody had her somewhere,” she said.

Kathryn Indiek/Globe Photos/ZUMA Press Wire/Shutterstock

Daveigh Chase’s mum says an accident started the spiral

In the interview, Cathy said that Daveigh’s issues began following a motorcycle accident in 2016 that injured her back. She was put on strong painkillers, like oxycodone, for the pain, but they soon took over her life.

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“She was seeking drugs and was partying with the wrong people. I never kicked my daughter out. She wanted freedom and these people got her hooked on some drugs. That was the beginning,” she said.

From then on, Daveigh was in and out of jail on charges related to drugs. In 2019, whilst the former actress was serving time for burglary, Cathy visited the prison.

She recalled: “She was completely gone, like, out of her mind. I honestly thought there was something wrong with her. My daughter was never diagnosed with mental health other than PTSD. But the drugs took hold of her.”

Credit: Instagram

Though Daveigh said she would return home upon release, the prison let her out early without informing her mother. Cathy never saw her again, but that doesn’t mean she stopped trying. She took to the streets to find her daughter and combed through Reddit, where she found the now-viral video from 2025.

“In the video, she was in a really bad shape. She was very frail. She was fragile. She was saying no, and trying to push the camera away, and they were shoving it in her face. It was gross,” she added. “She was obviously drugged out of her mind. She was nothing but skin and bones and I didn’t want to think that was my daughter.”

Daveigh Chase’s cause of death is yet to be published.

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Featured image credit: mpi11/MediaPunch/Shutterstock and Kathryn Indiek/Globe Photos/ZUMA Press Wire/Shutterstock