Julia Louis-Dreyfus is finally addressing the death of her sister Emma, People is reporting. Emma passed away suddenly on August 13 at the age of 44 after suffering a seizure. She was on a camping trip, and both alcohol and cocaine were discovered to have been in her system. Coroners later ruled the cause of death as an overdose. Lewis-Dreyfus was blindsided by her youngest sister’s passing, and is speaking out about it for the first time. While rumors surfaced that the actress was estranged from her siblings, Louis-Drefyus says she’s remained mum about the situation out of respect for Emma.
“It was out of the blue,” she said. “Given the fact that that heinous s— came out, I would simply say I’ve kept this under wraps out of reverence for my dearest Emma. It’s been a very bad period of time.”
The Veep star has had a rough time of it the past couple of years. In September 2016, Louis-Dreyfus revealed in her Emmy acceptance speech that her father William had died two days beforehand. A year later, in September 2017, Louis-Dreyfus announced that she had been diagnosed with breast cancer. This was shortly after she broke a record for most wins for a performance in the same role for the same series at the Emmys. Now, Louis-Dreyfus is in remission. She credits her sons Charlie, age 21, and Henry, age 26, for getting her through the ordeal.
“When I was getting my hideous chemotherapy, I’d cram a bunch of family and friends into this tiny treatment room with me, and we really did have some great laughs,” she said. “Of course, I was heavily medicated and slipping in and out of consciousness, so I was probably a pretty easy audience, but my point is that laughter is a basic human need, along with love and food and an HBO subscription.”
Julia Louis-Dreyfus’ heartbreak as her sister Emma is found dead https://t.co/bALEEKqVJU pic.twitter.com/fATKWKIoAB
— The Sun (@TheSun) October 16, 2018
According to Daily Mail , her sister Emma was a social worker working in San Mateo County. She attended the Bank Street School for Children in Manhattan and Ethical Culture Fieldston School before going on to study at Brown for her undergraduate degree. She received her Masters from Berkeley. Emma’s obituary noted that she liked both city and country life, and that she was particularly fond of the Yuba River, where she died. She enjoyed sports, board games, and party games. She adored her nieces, nephews, and dogs.
According to another article from People , Louis-Dreyfus has a new outlook following her cancer diagnosis and her sister’s death.
“I have a different kind of view of my life now, having seen that edge — that we’re all going to see at some point, and which, really, as a mortal person you don’t allow yourself to consider, ever,” she said.
