The Vivienne’s sister campaigns to have ketamine reclassified as Class A drug following star’s death

Chanel Williams, sister of The Vivienne, has met with government ministers to campaign to have ketamine reclassified as a Class A drug following her brother’s death.

The Vivienne, real name James Lee Williams, was found dead in their home near Chester on 5 January 2025. It was later confirmed that the Drag Race star died “from the effects of ketamine use causing a cardiac arrest.”

In the wake of the performer’s death, their sister appeared on Lorraine on Monday 24 March to raise awareness of the dangers related to the drug and to campaign for it to be reclassified as a Class A drug. It is currently classified as Class B.

Williams confirmed to host Lorraine Kelly that she was due to meet with a government minister to discuss the matter, telling her: “I know that he would want this. He struggled and he was open about that, I know that he would want this fight.”

The former Drag Race personality’s sister also confirmed that while they had gone through periods of sobriety, prior to their death they had relapsed, unbeknown to his family.

“He’s gone through long periods of sobriety so for us as a family, we didn’t know that struggle that was clearly going on towards the end of his life,” she revealed.

“He was maintaining, he was on tour, doing so well. He was reading scripts for the future. So I think that stigma we need to break down so people feel about to talk.”

“This is beyond the most devastating time”

She added: “It’s hard if you’ve battled and then gone through that period of sobriety. It’s even harder to come back and say, ‘I’m struggling again.'”

Williams also spoke about her parents’ grief during this troubling time. “This is beyond the most devastating time. For me to see my parents struggle as they are, we’ve just got to channel that into hoping that other families don’t feel like this.”

It was recently announced that The Vivienne’s legacy would be captured in a new documentary produced by World of Wonder. Entitled Dear Viv, the film will make use of rare archival footage, “deeply personal letters from fans”, as well as new interviews with friends and peers including Danny Beard, Baga Chipz  and Michael Marouli.