Angus Cloud‘s mother has filed a lawsuit against Johnson & Johnson over the death of her husband, claiming that his use of the company’s now-discontinued baby powder for more than five decades contributed to his cancer.
According to the wrongful death lawsuit obtained by People, the late Euphoria star’s mother, Lisa, claims Joseph Hickey’s stage 4 mesothelioma was caused by the inhalation of asbestos in Johnson & Johnson’s talcum powder. Asbestos has been linked to the pharmaceutical giant’s product for years, resulting in thousands of lawsuits and billions of dollars in settlements.
The outlet reports that Hickey used the product religiously after bathing and in his shoes from 1957 until his death in 2023. Hickey tragically died in May. He was 65. Two months later, on July 31, Cloud died from an accidental overdose. He was 25.
Lisa, along with her daughters, Molly and Fiona, are suing Johnson & Johnson for personal injuries and loss of consortium stemming from Hickey’s death. The wrongful death lawsuit, filed in Alameda County Superior Court on Oct. 4, claims Hickey’s fatal malignant mesothelioma diagnosis was caused by cumulative doses of asbestos, fibers and talc exposures present in Johnson & Johnson’s Baby Powder. The family goes on to claim that Hickey’s cancer caused “physical pain, mental suffering, loss of enjoyment of life, disfigurement, physical impairment, inconvenience, grief, anxiety, humiliation, emotional distress, and other similar harm. And the mesothelioma caused Plaintiff’s untimely death.”
According to CBS News, the company maintains that the baby powder — which it no longer sells — is safe and doesn’t cause cancer. The company took the product out of market this year following thousands of lawsuits from women who claimed that the use of J&J’s Baby Powder gave them either ovarian cancer or mesothelioma, a cancer that attacks the lungs and other organs.
“Johnson & Johnson has gotten away with and continues to get away with misrepresenting their product even in 2023 — after numerous juries and courts have found their product causes cancer — they keep lying to the public and telling everybody it’s safe,” said Lisa’s attorney, Joseph Satterley, in a statement to People. “First they just take it off the market in the United States and Canada where you can file lawsuits and they leave it on the market around the world, where you can’t file lawsuits [easily] in third world countries. But now we have put enough pressure on them so they finally have taken the talc powder off the market worldwide.”
A spokesperson for Johnson & Johnson told People that “40 years of studies by independent medical experts around the world supports that cosmetic talc is safe, does not contain asbestos and does not cause cancer.”
Following Hickey’s death, Cloud, who starred as Fezco on Euphoria, struggled after his father’s death. Two weeks before his death, Cloud took to Instagram to remember his late dad with a sweet post on July 14, which features a photo of his father smiling while holding out his pinky. In the shot, Cloud’s dad wore an all-red sweatsuit with the hood up.
“Miss u breh,” Cloud captioned the photo.
The family shared in a statement that Cloud had “struggled” in the wake of his father’s funeral, which took place the same month Cloud accidentally overdosed.
“Last week he buried his father and intensely struggled with this loss,” the statement read in part. “The only comfort we have is knowing Angus is now reunited with his dad, who was his best friend.”
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