Williams’ struggles with substance abuse were well documented prior to his passing. In a 2020 interview withMen’s Health,The Wirestar spoke candidly about turning to drugs as an adolescent and relapsing after shooting the first season ofLovecraft 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 inLovecraft Country “woke up a lot of demons,” which led him to enter therapy.