Valerie Fairman Suspected Overdose Update: ‘16 And Pregnant’ Star's Death Was An 'Accident,' Best Friend Says

The death of former “16 and Pregnant” reality star Valerie Fairman had to be an accident, her best friend Karla Bowers told Radar Online Thursday. The 23-year-old was found unconscious in a friend’s bathroom in Coatesville, Pennsylvania Wednesday.

“Valerie loved her child more than anything or anyone,” Bowers said about 7-year-old Naveah. “She always talked about her baby girl… How beautiful she was, how much she loved her.”

When Bowers found out about Fairman’s death, she knew it was an “accident” because “she would never leave her child,” Bowers said.

Fairman struggled with drug addiction for years. A week before her death, she was arrested for resisting arrest and giving false identification to police officers. In February 2015, she was arrested for prostitution in Delaware.

But her friends don’t want her to be remembered for her trouble with the law. “She was a daughter, sister, mother, and friend,” Bowers said. “She was somebody.”

Fairman’s death was a shock to her brother, Robert Rivera. She checked into rehab at least twice in an effort to get clean and stayed at a recovery house earlier in the year.

“She appeared in the right mindset,” Rivera told Radar Online Thursday. “But the struggle was always there.”

MTV issued a response to Fairman’s death: “We are saddened by the news of Valerie Fairman’s passing. Our thoughts and prayers are with her family at this time.”

In 2010, she appeared on Season 2 of “16 and Pregnant” alongside Kailyn Lowry, Jenelle Evans, Leah Messer and Chelsea DeBoer.

David Pryce, the ex-boyfriend of Fairman, wished there was more he could have done to help her. “She was trying so hard. … It’s a lifelong problem,” he told Us Weekly Thursday. “She was very loving. She was very insecure. She always wanted to go places with me and just kind of hang out. Always wanted to be near me. She was a very, very good woman. She would just talk. She was very, very intelligent, which surprised me that she would end up like that.”

Fairman’s daughter is currently staying with her grandmother. Fairman’s parents have custody of Naveah, Radar Online noted.

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