Ariana Grande Was 'Helpful and Effective' in Mac Miller's Sobriety

Ariana Grande was “unbelievably involved and helpful” in getting her ex-boyfriend Mac Miller sober, according to one of the late rapper’s friends.

On Monday (Sept. 10), Shane Powers opened up about Miller’s battle with addiction on his podcast, “The Shane Show.” According to Powers, Grande had a positive influence on Miller when they were dating.

“They were very much in love and I have to say, she was incredible when he was first sobering up,” said Powers (via PEOPLE). “She was a fu**ing G to him. There could not have been anybody more supportive of him being sober than Ariana. I saw that, I was around it, I took phone calls from her. ‘How do I help? What do I do?’ This little girl was unbelievably involved and helpful to him being healthy.”

“Whether he’s an addict or not, the way that Mac partied was not healthy,” he added. “[And] there was no one in his life more ready to go to the wall for him when it came to him being sober. She was an unbelievably stabilizing force in his life and she was deeply helpful and effective in keeping Mac sober and helping him get sober. She was all about him being healthy. Period.”

Grande posted a tribute to Miller on Instagram and disabled her comments after trolls blamed her for Miller’s apparent overdose. The couple split in April after two years of dating.

Miller died at his Studio City, Calif., home on Friday (Sept. 7). He was 26. The cause of death is “deferred,” according to his death certificate. The L.A. County Coroner is still awaiting toxicology results, reports TMZ.

In the wake of his passing, the rapper’s music has seen a 970 percent increase in streams in the U.S., according to Billboard. His catalog earned 32.5 million streams, up from 3.04 million prior to his death.