Sophie Nyweide‘s friend and former partner, Eden Herlihy, is remembering the good times she had with the late actress.
“She had hope … I’ve lost a lot of people to addiction sadly,” Herlihy said in an interview with TMZ on Friday, April 25. “Me and Sophie lost a lot of friends to this disease over the past couple of years. We knew the severity of it.”
Herlihy explained that she and Nyweide met at a residential treatment center called Elevations in Utah. Elevations focuses on helping kids from the age of 13 to 18 as they struggle with anxiety, depression, bullying and other issues.
As they knew each other for quite some time, Herlihy shared that she and Nyweide were by each other’s sides as they struggled with addiction themselves. Herlihy claimed that she was around when Nyweide “was using” drugs and stated they would also use together.
Former Child Star Sophie Nyweide Dead at 24
While Herlihy and Nyweide experienced loss due to addiction, she never thought that the former child star would meet the same fate.
“No one is ever the right person to go. No one is meant to go from this disease, at least in my opinion. But I never thought it would be her because we fought so hard to survive the stuff we’ve gone through in our lives,” she said. “She was the last person I was expecting to die from this disease because she was so strong.”
When Herlihy first met Nyweide, she noticed immediately how warm and welcoming she was to others.
“She didn’t judge anybody, she wasn’t like the regular girls of our age group that [were] judging each other,” Herlihy recalled. “She was kind off the bat. [She] wasn’t talking bad about anybody. She just wanted everybody to feel safe and cared for.”
Nyweide’s family confirmed on Tuesday, April 22, that the former child actress died. She was 24 years old.
“Sophie. A life ended too soon,” the obituary read. “May it not be in vain. May we all learn from her brief life on earth and do better. Yes, we must all protect our children and do better.”
Child Star Sophie Nyweide Was Pregnant When She Died at Age 24
Officials in Bennington, Vermont, confirmed that Nyweide’s body was found on April 14 in a wooded area along the banks of the Roaring Branch River. An unnamed individual was with the former child actress at the time of her death and called emergency services. The person is cooperating with investigators.
Law enforcement stated that they were investigating Nyweide’s death as “a possible unintentional overdose.”
According to Nyweide’s death certificate, which was obtained by Us Weekly, the actress was pregnant. While the paperwork did not state how far along she was in the pregnancy, a source told People that Nyweide was in the early stages.
