“Lilo & Stitch” directors Chris Sanders and Dean DeBlois shared a tribute to Lilo voice actress Daveigh Chase on Saturday, following her death this week at age 35.
The image, which they posted on social media, features a crying Stitch holding a sandwich alongside Scrump the doll and Pudge the fish. In the original 2002 animated movie, Lilo relies on her relationship with Pudge to help her deal with the deaths of her parents.
Chase, who also played Samara in “The Ring” and voiced Chihiro in “Spirited Away,” died Wednesday after suffering from meningitis, which led to sepsis.
Chase’s boyfriend Roy Hernandez started a GoFundMe ostensibly to assist with burial costs, but that claim has been disputed by her former manager. “Daveigh’s estate has plenty of means to pay for the cremation,” John Ryan told Deadline. He also said Chase’s father “never signed any paperwork over to this so-called boyfriend.”
“That GoFundMe is not going toward ANY expenses for Daveigh,” he stated. “Myself, her father, her uncle and all of us close friends who knew her for decades are encouraging people not to donate to this page. This man making these claims brought her into the hospital in terrible condition and didn’t let any of the family know until she passed so he can control the dialogue.”
Ryan further accused Hernandez of “using our friend’s tragic passing to get a few bucks for he and his family.”
“There are no medical bills to be paid or funeral expenses,” he explained. “Myself and the family are sickened at the condition she was in before she passed. This guy’s trying to make it look like a Romeo and Juliet situation to benefit his own pockets.”
