In 2002, a twelve-year-old girl voiced one of the most beloved Disney characters of a generation. That same year, she terrified audiences in The Ring. Her name was Daveigh Chase, and for a moment, she was everywhere.

Last month, she died in a Los Angeles hospital at 35 years old.

The cause of death was sepsis — a bacterial infection that overwhelmed her body. She had been living near Skid Row, malnourished and without access to healthcare, after years of opioid dependence that began with a prescription after a back injury and eventually progressed to heroin and fentanyl. According to her family, she had been missing for nearly a decade.

She was not a cautionary tale. She was a person with a treatable disease who didn’t receive adequate treatment.

In Episode 60 of The Dr. Suzette Glasner Podcast, addiction scientist and clinical psychologist Dr. Suzette Glasner examines the forces that shaped Daveigh Chase’s story — and why it keeps repeating. From the specific psychological vulnerabilities that make child performers uniquely susceptible to addiction, to the way opioid dependence progresses from prescription use to fentanyl, to the homelessness-addiction spiral that claimed her life long before the infection did — Dr. Glasner walks through what the science actually tells us about how this happens and what it would take to intervene earlier. You can watch the full episode here:

Daveigh Chase’s death wasn’t an overdose in the traditional sense. It was a body weakened by years of fentanyl use, malnutrition, and disconnection from care, exposed to an infection it couldn’t survive. That’s what dying from addiction often actually looks like — not a single moment, but a slow accumulation of harm that the healthcare system never found a way to interrupt.

Dr. Glasner also addresses what families can do when someone they love seems unreachable — drawing on evidence-based approaches including CRAFT, harm reduction, and Housing First that don’t require waiting for rock bottom.

Tylor Chase. Tyler Christopher. Daveigh Chase. The names change. The structure doesn’t. This episode is about why — and what we can do better.

Resources mentioned in this episode:

* CRAFT (Community Reinforcement and Family Training): smartrecovery.org

* SAMHSA National Helpline: 1-800-662-4357 — free, confidential, 24/7

* Al-Anon: al-anon.org

* Naloxone locator: nextdistro.org

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Have a question, a topic you’d like Dr. Glasner to cover, or a story you think deserves attention? Reach out at [email protected] — she reads every message.

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