What Angus Cloud said about the traumatic head injury he suffered as a teenager

Cloud was a fan favourite thanks to his performance as drugdealer Fezco in HBO’s hit teen drama series, ‘Euphoria’

Euphoria fans often drew comparisons between late actor Angus Cloud and his character, Fezco, something the actor challenged when asked about it himself.

The US star, who has died aged 25, played the drugdealer Fezco “Fez” O’Neill in HBO’s hit teen drama, friend and occasional supplier to Zendaya’s lead character, the troubled Rue.

To many, Cloud’s role as the slow-talking but magnetic character reflected his demeanour in real life, in viral interviews where he seemed reluctant to converse with reporters on the red carpet.

Yet he rejected the notion that he simply walked on to the Euphoria set and “played himself”, telling Variety in 2022: “It does bother me when people are like, ‘It must be so easy! You get to go in and be yourself.’ I’m like, ‘Why don’t you go and do that?’ It’s not that simple.

“I brought a lot to the character. You can believe what you want. It ain’t got nothing to do with me.”

In the interview with Variety, Cloud also discussed the traumatic brain injury he suffered as a teenager, which explained the scar across his scalp that also served as a defining characteristic for his Euphoria character.

“I broke my skull on Friday the 13th,” he told the interviewer, recalling that he had split off from a group of friends walking through downtown Oakland, California, where he grew up, at night.

He said that he woke up 12 hours after plummeting into a construction pit that he hadn’t spotted in the dark until it was too late. “I was trapped,” he said. “I eventually climbed out after, I don’t know how long. It was hella hard to climb out, because my skull was broken but my skin wasn’t, so all the bleeding was internal, pressing up against my brain. But they wasn’t gonna find me down there. I found myself. Or God found me, whatever you want to call it.”

Cloud managed to pull himself out of the pit with broken fingers, putting this down to him going into “survival mode”. He took the bus to his mum’s house and, after initially thinking he was on drugs due to his dilated pupils and strained speech, she took him to hospital, where he underwent surgery and spent five days in intensive care.

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ANGUS CLOUD-DECESO (AP)

“Within minutes, it became clear that his freak accident was the cause of his slowed speech — and his speech was the reason people stereotyped him,” journalist Salome Hailu observed in a tribute to Cloud following his death.

“I was almost frustrated that he’d never spoken up about the injury before. Why let people make fun of you when you have the ammunition to prove that their bullying is uninformed and ableist?

“But I gained respect for the way he saw it: The only reason people didn’t know is that they didn’t ask. In his words, ‘You can believe what you want. It ain’t got nothing to do with me.’”

Cloud died on Monday (31 July). He was 25 years old.

“It is with the heaviest heart that we had to say goodbye to an incredible human today. As an artist, a friend, a brother and a son, Angus was special to all of us in so many ways,” his family said in a statement.

“Last week he buried his father and intensely struggled with this loss. Angus is now reunited with his dad, who was his best friend.

“Angus was open about his battle with mental health and we hope that his passing can be a reminder to others that they are not alone and should not fight this on their own in silence.”

The cause of Cloud’s death has yet to be disclosed. Follow the latest news and tributes here.