Michael Jai White says oldest son died from COVID-19 at age 38
"Unfortunately, he was still kinda out there in the streets hustling, wasn't doing well, started getting on substances," White revealed.
The oldest son of actor Michael Jai White died from coronavirus “just a few months ago” at age 38.
Speaking to VladTV, White opened up about the tragic news, noting that he had his son when he was 15 years old and the two had “grown up together.”
He admitted that his son grew up with the “street element,” which contributed to his eventual death.
“Unfortunately, he was still kinda out there in the streets hustling, wasn’t doing well, started getting on substances,” White shared. “He’d come out, go back in, all that type of stuff.”
White said his son was in the hospital for a while, and “COVID was waiting for him… That was the knockout blow,” he added.
White’s son had a compromised immune system due to substance abuse, and he wasn’t vaccinated against the coronavirus.
“He never shook the streets,” he said. “That was his thing.”
Despite his best efforts to help his son, the Black Dynamite star said, “ultimately, it’s up to that person, especially if it’s a grown person.”
White’s oldest son reportedly leaves behind six children.
White himself has five other children, including kids from his wife Gillian’s previous relationship. The couple wed in 2015, 18 years after they first met.
COVID-19 related deaths in the United States are steadily on the rise as the delta variant continues to spread rapidly. To date, more than 600,000 Americans have died of the virus.
While the virus is still predominantly killing older Americans and deaths among those in their 30s like White’s son remains rare in comparison, there have been nearly 17,000 deaths of those aged 45 or younger since the start of the pandemic.
The coronavirus has killed a majority of White Americans, however, Black and Hispanic Americans are disproportionately dying of the virus. To date, more than 91,000 Black Americans have died of COVID-19 and more than 110,000 were Hispanic, according to data from the CDC.
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