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RJ Mitte’s younger sister, Lacianne Carriere, openly wept while remembering the “Breaking Bad” actor during a eulogy at his memorial service on Friday.
“RJ Mitte was my older brother but I not only just lost a brother, I lost my father,” she said during the service, held in his hometown of Brownsville, Texas, per footage shared to YouTube.
Carriere shared that her mother was a single mom who “was in an accident that paralyzed her from the waist down for the first few years of my life” when she was a newborn.
RJ, she said, “immediately took on the father role.”
“I don’t have many words that I can put together but all I can say is that every part of me is RJ,” Carriere continued.
“Every type of music I listen to, everything I watch, every game I play, our mannerisms, and I just really miss my brother,” she added.
Carriere also shared her brother’s love for his community, many of whom gathered at the family’s Mitte Cultural District for the memorial.
“This was his community,” she said. “He loved it here and he loved all of you and he loved this city.”
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RJ’s younger sibling concluded her emotional remarks by urging anyone who “is struggling” to not “feel like you’re alone.”
“Try to accept the help, try,” Carriere pleaded. “Try your hardest. And just reach out to someone.”
Page Six confirmed on Monday that RJ — best known for his role as Walter White Jr. on the AMC series – had died at the age of 34, with a rep telling us in a statement, “It is with profound sadness that we share the tragic passing of beloved actor, philanthropist and passionate disability rights advocate RJ Mitte.”
They added that for his role in “Breaking Bad,” RJ drew “from his own experience living with cerebral palsy” and “brought authenticity to the role and built a platform on disability awareness and inclusion.”
A rep for the actor later confirmed to us that RJ’s cause of death was suicide.
His manner of death is pending while family members await the results of an autopsy.
Following RJ’s death, his “Breaking Bad” co-stars — including onscreen mom Anna Gunn, onscreen dad Bryan Cranston, and Aaron Paul — remembered the actor’s remarkable life and influence in heartfelt tributes.
His mother, Dyna Mitte, recalled finding her son following his death in an interview with NBC News published Thursday.
“I called him at 11 [a.m.],” she told the outlet, noting that he often slept until midday. “He didn’t answer, so I picked up lunch and went to take it to him, and that’s when I discovered him.”
Dyna also claimed that a friend had told the actor something “that he was very hurt over.”
“We all go through heartbreak in our life and we all deal with it differently,” she said, confessing that she wished she’d dragged him “screaming and yelling” to therapy amid his apparent mental health struggles.
“If I had known anything and could have done anything different, I truly would have,” she told the outlet. “I would have given my life for his life.”
If you or someone you know is affected by any of the issues raised in this story, call the National Suicide Prevention Lifeline at 800-273-TALK (8255) or text Crisis Text Line at 741741.
