Blake Garrett, the former child actor best known for his role in the 2006 film How To Eat Fried Worms, died Sunday. He was 33 years old.
His mother, Carol, announced the death and told TMZ that the family is still in the dark about the official cause. Garrett's body has been autopsied, but the medical examiner's report has not yet been released.
Carol described her son's final days in Tulsa, Oklahoma, as consumed by painful medical issues. Last week, Garrett made a trip to an Oklahoma emergency room, complaining of excruciating pain, and was allegedly diagnosed with shingles — a condition the CDC says around one in three people will develop in their lifetime.
According to the Daily Mail, what happened between that diagnosis and Sunday remains unclear. Carol reportedly feared that the pain from shingles may have led her son to use other substances to self-medicate. She worried that Garrett could have died as a result of a tragic accident as he tried to cope with the illness. It is unclear what substances she feared her son may have been using.
The detail that shadows all of this: Garrett had allegedly been sober for the past three years.
Born Nolan Blake Garrett in Austin, Texas, he found the stage in young local theater productions of Aladdin and His Magical Lamp and Peanuts: A Charlie Brown Tribute before he hit double digits. At age 10, he joined the touring production of Barney's Colorful World and was featured in a video released from that show in 2004.
Two years later came the role that would define his public identity. How To Eat Fried Worms hit theaters in 2006, and in 2007, Garrett and the rest of the primary cast were honored with Best Young Ensemble Cast at the 28th Young Artist Awards.
Then, as happens with so many child actors, the spotlight moved on.
The fact sheet contains no public record of what Garrett did professionally after his acting career. That silence tells its own story — one familiar to anyone who has watched the child-star pipeline operate in America. The industry is excellent at finding young talent and utterly indifferent to what happens after the cameras stop rolling.
This isn't a policy argument. It's a human one. A 33-year-old man walked into an emergency room in pain, walked out with a diagnosis, and days later was gone. His mother is left assembling pieces that don't yet fit, waiting on a report that may or may not bring clarity.
Three years of sobriety. A week of agony. And a family still waiting for answers.