A Rising Star, a Family's Heartbreak

TWO MONTHS AFTER HIS DEATH, THE ACTOR'S MOM AND LOVED ONES-INCLUDING EUPHORIA CREATOR SAM LEVINSON - OPEN UP ABOUT HIS DEVASTATING STRUGGLE WITH DRUGS

- DANIELLE BACHER

EUPHORIA STAR ANGUS CLOUD'S MOM ON HIS TRAGIC OVERDOSE

Angus Cloud’s mom, Lisa Cloud, opens her son’s bedroom door at her Oakland home. The walls are covered with his riotous graffiti, an explosion of colorful shapes and doodles that Angus, famous for his role on HBO’s hit show Euphoria, began spray-painting in middle school. "He was so creative," she says, breaking the stillness. Pointing to a desk splattered with paint, Lisa pauses and shakes her head: "This is where my boy passed away."

On July 31 Angus (born Conor Angus Cloud Hickey) died at 25 from acute intoxication following an accidental drug overdose. That morning Lisa found Angus—who had cocaine, methamphetamine, fentanyl and benzodiazepines in his system, according to the Alameda County Coroner—slumped over his desk. She thought he had fallen asleep, but as she approached him to say good morning, she realized something was wrong. "I started shaking him and screaming. I pushed him hard, and he fell on the floor," she says, sobbing. "I miss him so much. He was the love of my life."

Four years ago Angus, who was born and raised in Oakland by his mom, a former actor, and late dad, Conor Hickey, a sales executive, gained overnight stardom with his portrayal of Fezco, the low-key drug dealer with a heart of gold, on Euphoria. Discovered by the show's casting director on the street in Manhattan, Angus was working at a chicken-and-waffle restaurant at the time. "He had such a unique cadence and humor to him," recalls the show's creator Sam Levinson, 38. "His lack of training was a benefit because he wouldn't overthink."