Mac Miller's friend sets the record straight on Ariana Grande's influence on him

Last week, it was announced that Mac Miller passed away at age 26. The rapper, whose real name is Malcolm McCormick, is suspected to have died of a drug overdose and was found dead in his California home. His death follows years of substance abuse, and his passing has been met with an outpouring of grief worldwide.

But while people have been paying their respects, Miller's ex-girlfriend of two years, Ariana Grande, has been treated somewhat differently. Instead of showing the young pop-star sympathy in her time of grieving, Ariana has been brutally bombarded with abuse from trolls telling her that she's to blame for the rapper's death.

As a tribute to his passing, she posted a personal picture of Miller to Instagram without a caption, and was forced to disable the comments on the post. The pair split in May of this year, and even back then people criticised Ariana for "abandoning" Miller while he struggled to overcome his addiction.

It caused her to speak out on social media, saying that their relationship had turned "toxic" and that she shouldn't feel like she needs to be a "babysitter or a mother". She wrote:

"I have cared for him and tried to support his sobriety & prayed for his balance for years (and always will of course) but shaming/blaming women for a man's inability to keep his shit together is a very major problem."

But despite her very valid point about the shaming women experience in such relationships, people still unfairly blamed the recently-engaged singer for Miller's suspected overdose.

Now, a friend of the Ladders singer has come to Ariana's defence, highlighting how supportive she was of Miller during his struggle with sobriety. Shane Powers dedicated one of his podcasts to Miller, and spoke about the rapper's relationship with Ariana.

He revealed on The Shane Show that there "could not have been anybody more supportive of him being sober than Ariana."

"Ariana and him were together, and they were very much in love," he went on. "And I have to say, she was incredible when he was first sobering up. She was a f*cking G to him."

According to Shane, Ariana "was deeply helpful and effective in keeping Mac sober and helping him get sober. And she was all about him being healthy, period, in this area of his life."

Shane said he "took phone calls from her.", where she would ask for advice like "'How do I help? What do I do?'"

"This little girl was unbelievably involved and helpful to him being healthy. Because whether he [was] an addict or not, the way that Mac partied was not healthy."

While she was clearly a very positive force in Miller's life, people should not assume that the responsibility for his personal struggle is hers to bear. The news of his passing was tragic for many, and as you can imagine, it's particularly difficult for those that were close to Miller, including Ariana.