The Vivienne's former husband of six years shared a heart-felt tribute to his former partner after the former RuPaul's Drag Race champion was announced as dead over the weekend
14:04, 06 Jan 2025Updated 14:05, 06 Jan 2025
The Vivienne's husband share a touching tribute to his former partner after they were announced as dead Sunday evening (January 5).
Viv, 32, who rose to fame on Ru Paul's Drag Race, was confirmed dead when their PR manager released the sad news online. Simon Jones said The Vivienne, real name James Lee Williams, was an "incredibly loved, warm-hearted and amazing person" in an online post shared over Instagram and X. Now, Viv's former husband, David Ludford, shared a post about the devastating news.
David, who runs a company selling wigs for drag queens called Drag Helmet Wigs, and Viv got married in 2019, but split up in 2023. While the pair were not together, David shared many heart-felt memories about his former partner. The police were looking into Viv's death, but have ruled it as "not suspicious."
The former husbands met in Gran Canaria in August 2017 and tied the knot at a lavish flower-filled ceremony at G-A-Y's Heaven nightclub in London in 2019. They shared a happy marriage and were together for six years before splitting in 2023. They have never confirmed the reasoning for the split, but shared that is was a mutual and friendly decision.
At the time, Viv shared a statement shortly after her finalist stint on Dancing on Ice, where she came third. They wrote: "As many may have noticed, David and I have been apart recently. We have made the decision to part ways after an amazing five and a half years. We are still very much friends, but sometimes life gets in the way and people grow apart."
The statement continued: "We wish each the absolute best and will always be part of each others lives. We'd ask that you please respect our privacy at this time. Thank you. James and David."
Upon hearing of Viv's death, David shared a photo of the former couple together on Instagram, David wrote: 'My heart literally sank when I got the call! My heart is shattered! Never in a million years did I think I’d ever be writing anything like this.
'This man changed my life so much from the day we first met in August 2017 in Gran Canaria!! We literally clicked straight away and we knew we was going to be together for along time!! He made me feel love and shown me what it was really like to love someone.
"We literally went through and did so much together it was like a whirlwind and I wouldn’t have changed the time we spent together for anything In The world!!!
"I feel like a tit feeling this upset and hurt because we have been fully divorced for just over a year now but we was together 6 year and we loved each other so much and you can’t take away. I’m so happy to say I not only met you but we was together, we was husbands and you was the biggest part of my left for such a long time! 6 years is such a long time to spend 24/7 with you will always always have a place in my heart.
"Going to miss you more than people will ever know sleep tight angel."
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