The Ring Star's Childhood Friend Reveals What Could Have Saved Her

When childhood actors share a manager, attend auditions together, and bond over the peculiar isolation of homeschooled fame, those friendships run deep. That’s what made Amy Castle’s decision to break her silence about Daveigh Chase so significant—and so heartbreaking.

Chase, who played Samara in The Ring and voiced Lilo Pelekai in Disney’s Lilo&Stitch, died at age 35 on June 16. Her official cause: AIDS with chronic polysubstance use as a contributing factor. Castle knew her from age 9 to 16, and on Wednesday, July 8, she told Us Weekly something that cuts to the bone of Chase’s story: it didn’t have to end this way.

“I believe that things absolutely could have been different,”Castle, 36, explained, adding that the friend she knew would never have wanted her life to spiral as it did. The two had been inseparable during those early 2000s years—Castle even attended the Lilo&Stitch premiere with Chase and her mother. But like so many childhood friendships, especially in the entertainment world, they drifted apart. The last time they saw each other in person was September 2006 at Universal City Walk in Los Angeles.

What strikes hardest in Castle’s recounting isn’t just nostalgia—it’s her analysis of how addiction and trauma are bound together, and how the absence of genuine support systems can be fatal. She talks about trauma as the root cause of addiction, and how without proper processing help, self-soothing through substances becomes an almost inevitable coping mechanism. Chase, who was reportedly living on the streets in Los Angeles before her death, clearly didn’t have access to the support she needed. In 2026, when AIDS is manageable, Castle says she gets“very, very angry”knowing her friend died from it.

This realization has driven Castle to action. She’s launched Daveigh’s Law, a grassroots initiative aimed at ensuring young SAG-AFTRA members have access to real support resources—texts, calls, a hotline—the moment they enter the union as minors. Castle also revealed something darker: as a 12-year-old, she witnessed parenting decisions involving Chase that made her deeply uncomfortable. She never spoke to Chase about it then, and now she carries that regret. But she’s clear: this isn’t just an entertainment industry problem. At its core, Chase’s story is a human story about what happens when a vulnerable person lacks the safety net that could have saved them.

Castle’s message to anyone struggling with addiction or supporting someone who is: don’t give up. As long as they’re still alive, they’re not too far gone. For Chase, that moment passed. The hope now is that Daveigh’s Law can help ensure it doesn’t happen again.