Republican presidential candidate Sen. Ted Cruz (R-TX) shared the emotional story of his half-sister’s death.
Speaking at a forum on the heroin epidemic in New Hampshire, Cruz discussed his half-sister’s struggle with addiction.
According to The Dallas Morning News:
“Miriam her whole life was angry. She never forgave my dad for divorcing her mother. Her whole life she had a rage. She was angry at the world, she was angry at God.”
Miriam partied hard as a teen. “I would save money from my allowance, she would steal it to buy alcohol, buy drugs,” Cruz said.
She wouldn’t listen…. She was angry. She said daddy missed my swim meet when I was in high school. I remember saying, Miriam, you’ve got a son. Joey, he needs you,” he recalled. But she wouldn’t change her ways. So Cruz, then a young associate at a Washington law firm, maxed out a credit card, scraping together $20,000 to send his nephew to a military boarding school.
A year later, his sister was out of the crack house but still struggling with drugs and alcohol.
“Then a few years ago, Miriam died of an overdose.” Cruz paused, to let it sink in. The sanctuary was silent. “Joey, her son, found her in her bed. The coroner ruled it accidental. We’ll never know. We just got the call one day that Miriam was gone. These tragedies are happening all over the country.”