One week after US rapper Mac Miller was found dead of an apparent drug overdose, Ariana Grande has taken to Instagram to post a message about her former boyfriend of two years.
"i adored you from the day i met you when i was nineteen and i always will," she wrote.
"i can't believe you aren't here anymore. i really can't wrap my head around it. we talked about this. so many times. i'm so mad, i'm so sad i don't know what to do. you were my dearest friend. for so long. above anything else. i'm so sorry i couldn't fix or take your pain away. i really wanted to. the kindest, sweetest soul with demons he never deserved. i hope you're okay now. rest."
The two were friends and collaborators for years, first working together on Grande's hit The Way before officially becoming a couple in 2016.
While conflicting schedules were blamed for their split last year, reports emerged that Grande was concerned over Miller's substance abuse.
Within weeks, Grande had begun dating Pete Davidson, and the pair confirmed their engagement in June.
However, Grande responded angrily to a tweet from a fan positing that her breakup with Miller led to his arrest for DUI.
"How absurd that you minimise female self-respect and self-worth by saying someone should stay in a toxic relationship because he wrote an album about them," she wrote.
"I am not a babysitter or a mother and no woman should feel that they need to be. ... 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 sh--together is a very major problem. Let's please stop doing that."
Australian Associated Press
