JoJo Talks Losing Her Dad to Drug Addiction in New ‘Why I Vote’ Video

Joanna Levesque, better known as pop singer JoJo, is speaking out about opioid addiction.

The topic is personal for the Massachusetts star, who revealed in a new “Why I Vote” video for Vevo that her father died last year after a long struggle with drug addiction. JoJo considers the opioid epidemic to be “one of the greatest public health crises that we’re facing as a country.”

“I see it destroying the communities in New England,” JoJo said. “I see it destroying families. I see the way it’s broken my own family. I see the way I lost my father to addiction.”

The singer described how her father was forced to stop working following an ice accident that left him permanently disabled. The situation led him down the road of drug addiction, which JoJo became aware of around the age of 11 or 12.

The Foxboro native admitted that she wasn’t as close to her father in recent years due to his multiple rehab stints. However, when she got the call that her dad wasn’t going to make it after another overdose, she immediately got on a plane to see him.

“I flew back to Boston and then drove to New Hampshire and met him in the hospital,” JoJo said. “I looked at him and I saw him hooked up to these machines, and I just couldn’t give up on him. That’s my one dad.”

JoJo added that she thinks her father could’ve beat his addiction if more resources were made available to addicts. The singer praised the Angel program in Gloucester as a example of how leaders can deal with the crisis in a humane way.

“If you’re struggling with addiction, you can go to the police station, you can turn in your drugs,” JoJo said. “Instead of getting jailed for it, they’ll put you in a program, they’ll connect you with people.”

Check out the full video above.