Before his death at age 46, actor James Ransone was candid about trauma from alleged past childhood abuse and his subsequent struggles with addiction before getting sober.
Ransone was known for his roles on The Wire, Generation Kill, Sinister, It Chapter Two and The Black Phone. He died in December 2025 by suicide after being outspoken about developing a heroin addiction.
In 2021, Ransone posted a lengthy email via Instagram that he sent his alleged sexual abuser. He accused his former tutor, Timothy Rualo, who was then reportedly working at a school in Baltimore County, of sexually abusing him numerous times. Ransone recalled the abuse taking place over the course of six months in 1992 at his childhood home.
The alleged abuse led to a “lifetime of shame and embarrassment” for Ransone, who referenced the trauma as one of the reasons he developed substance abuse issues as an adult. After getting sober in 2006, Ransone recalled being “ready to confront” his past.
Hollywood is mourning the death of actor James Ransone. The Wire star died by suicide on December 19, 2025, according to County of Los Angeles Medical Examiner records viewed by Us Weekly. He was 46. Shortly after news of his death was made public, Jamie McPhee — who married Ransone in 2017 before welcoming two […]
Ransone reported the accusations to Baltimore County police in March 2020 but was allegedly told that prosecutors “had no interest in pursuing the matter any further.” The Baltimore County State’s Attorney Office ultimately did not bring charges following the police investigation.
Baltimore County State’s Attorney Scott Shellenberger confirmed at the time that his office declined to charge Rualo. A spokesman for Baltimore County Public Schools, meanwhile, told The Post Friday that Rualo remained employed by the district, where he has worked since 1992. Rualo, for his part, could not be contacted at the time.
Ransone previously revealed that he developed a heroin addiction and a debt of $30,000 by the time he was 27. He was able to get sober in the years since and went on to marry wife Jamie McPhee, with whom he shared two kids.
“I told you I have loved you 1000 times before and I know I will love you again,” McPhee wrote via Instagram, after Ransone’s death. “You told me – I need to be more like you and you need to be more like me – and you were so right. Thank you for giving me the greatest gifts – you, Jack and Violet. We are forever.”
Keep scrolling for everything Ransone said about his personal struggles — and addiction issues — before his death:
James Ransone’s Own Words About His Addiction
In a 2009 article for Malibu Magazine, Ransone wrote a first-person account of the spiral he went on before getting sober.
“I weighed 115 pounds, was about 30 grand in debt and had developed a pretty healthy heroin habit,” he wrote. “There were a lot of things going on inside me that I hadn’t faced, or at the very least, refused to acknowledge for a long time. There were a lot of hard corners in me that needed to be softened. I had no idea what the results were going to be as far as taking some responsibility for my past, but the outcome has been pretty remarkable.”
James Ransone Candidly Discussed His Drug Use
“I never shot dope. I snorted and smoked a lot of dope because I had this thing in my mind that only junkies shot it so I thought I wasn’t a junkie, but I definitely was,” he told The Fix in 2015. “My habit was really bad. It was a bundle [10 small bags of heroin] a day. The real segue into drugs for me were prescription pills. I think, without a doubt in my mind, that they are the most dangerous substance in America right now.”
Ransone clarified he wasn’t battling addiction while filming The Wire. “I was not strung out on heroin,” he added. “That happened a couple of years after I had already completed the show, which is weird because I think people thought I was a junkie then, but I wasn’t — not yet.”
James Ransone Opened Up About Hitting Rock Bottom
Ransone said prescription painkillers got him into heroin, telling The Fix, “Vicodin, oxycodone, Xanax, benzodiazepines. What happened is I became strung out on those pills and when you’re a junkie, you do anything to get it. I ended up ripping off a lot of doctors, stealing a lot of prescription pads. I started that hustle but then a couple of my friends got arrested for that. Somehow, I had enough foresight to go, ‘OK, this is a federal crime and could result in some serious time.’ So, I switched to doing heroin because it was much easier to get a hold of.”
Ransone recalled how he “almost died a couple of times” before getting sober.
“One time, I actually did die and got brought back to life. Then I got arrested a few times. The last time I got arrested, I got out of jail and came home and got a couple of bundles of heroin and tried to get high but it didn’t work anymore. That was the scariest part. Drugs couldn’t silence the volume of noise in my head anymore,” he continued. “I tried to kill myself a couple of times. Junkies are funny because we’re just so incompetent at everything that I couldn’t even pull that off successfully.”
He concluded: “I called a friend and I was, like, ‘I think I’m gonna kill myself or I’m gonna go to rehab.’ My friend was like, ‘Hey, why don’t you try rehab first.’ That’s what I did and that was in 2006 and I’ve been clean since.”
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James Ransone Got Sober Before His Breakout Roles
Bill Hader and James Ransone Brooke Palmer / Warner Bros. / courtesy Everett Collection
“People think I got sober working on the Generation Kill. I didn’t,” he told Interview Magazine in 2016 about getting clean “after being on heroin” for five years. “I sobered up six or seven months before that. I remember going to Africa and I was going to be there for almost a year. I was No. 2 on the call sheet and I was like, ‘I think somebody made a mistake. This is too much responsibility for me.’”
James Ransone Alleged He Was a Victim of Sexual Abuse
After reporting his alleged abuser, Ransone went public by sharing a statement on social media, writing via Instagram in 2021, “[My childhood tutor and I] did very little math. The strongest memory I have of the abuse was washing blood and feces out of my sheets after you left. I remember doing this as a 12 year old because I was too ashamed to tell anyone.”
Ransone pointed out the trauma as the reason he turned to alcohol and drugs. He ultimately got sober in 2006 and had remained in recovery.
If you or someone you know is in emotional distress or considering suicide, call the National Suicide Prevention Lifeline at 1-800-273-TALK (8255).
If you or someone you know has been sexually assaulted, contact the National Sexual Assault Hotline at 1-800-656-HOPE (4673).
If you or someone you know is struggling with substance abuse, contact the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA) National Helpline at 1-800-662-HELP (4357
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