Mac Miller has passed away at the age of 26 after an apparent overdose, E! News has learned.
The Los Angeles County Coroner confirmed in a statement that authorities were called to the artist's home in Studio City, Calif. on Friday afternoon. He was pronounced dead at the scene at 11:51 a.m. At this time, an autopsy is pending and an official cause of death has not been determined.
The artist, née Malcolm McCormick, has reportedly struggled with addiction issues for a long time.
Days after his split from Ariana Grande in May 2018, the rapper was involved in a car crash in the San Fernando Valley, in which his 2016 Mercedes G-Wagon hit a pole, knocking it over. Miller and two passengers fled the scene of the crime, however, according to TMZ, police were able to locate the star and his friends after visiting the address listed under his license plate. TMZ claimed the star then "confessed to driving drunk and fleeing the scene."
He was later charged with driving under the influence and driving with a BAC of over .08. However, he was not charged with a hit and run. He was due to appear in court on Sept. 11.
Miller addressed the car accident on an interview with Zane Lowe on Beats 1 on Apple Music. "What you don't understand is that I lived a certain life for 10 years and faced almost no real consequence at all," he shared. "I had no version of the story that didn't end up with me being fine. Yeah I made a stupid mistake. I'm a human being. Like drove home drunk. But it was the best thing that could have happened. Best thing that could have happened. I needed that. I needed to run into that light pole and literally like have the whole thing stop."
Ariana, who is now engaged to comedian Pete Davidson, spoke out about their "toxic relationship" in the aftermath of Miller's arrest. Grande added, "I will continue to pray from the bottom of my heart that he figures it all out and that any other woman in this position does as well."
Likewise, Miller wished the best for his ex. "I am happy for her and moving forward with her life just as I'm sure she is with me," he previously told Lowe.
The artist recently spoke to Rolling Stone about his latest project and his drug use, which came to light after the release of his debut album, Blue Side Park in 2011. He said, "If a bunch of people think I am a huge drug addict, OK. Cool. What can I really do? Go talk to all those people and be like ‘Naw man, it's really not that simple?'" he says. "Have I done drugs? Yeah. But am I a drug addict? No."
He addressed the pressure of living life in the spotlight in an interview with Vulture, published one day before his death. "There's pressure. A lot of times in my life I've put this pressure to hold myself to the standard of whatever I thought I was supposed to be, or how I was supposed to be perceived. And that creates pressure… It's the job. This is what I signed up for," he explained. "So, you just have to not. You have to have your own reality and that has to be the driving force of your life. Do I wish that every single thing I did when I was 19 wasn't a discussion? Sure."
As of late, the Pittsburgh native's focus was on rehearsing for his upcoming tour and promoting his new album, Swimming, which debuted at No. 3 on the Billboard U.S. 200. His newest release was his fifth studio album and followed up the success of albums like, The Divine Feminine and GO:OD AM. He first dived into the world of music at the tender age of 15 after teaching himself how to play a handful of instruments. He told the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, "Once I hit 15, I got real serious about it and it changed my life completely. I used to be into sports, play all the sports, go to all the high school parties. But once I found out hip-hop is almost like a job, that's all I did."
His parents and the administrators at his high school fully supported his dream to become a musician. "They [supported] me because, at Allderdice, there are kids that won't go to school because they're into some street stuff. Me, on the other hand, I told them I wanted to graduate. It means a lot for me to graduate from somewhere that doesn't end in dot-com. I wanted to wear my gown, walk down with my homies, go to prom, do all the stuff a regular high school kid does," he shared to the newspaper.
Our thoughts go out to the star's family.
TMZ was first to report the news.