James Ransone’s wife thanks The Wire star for ‘greatest gifts’ in emotional tribute after actor dies by suicide aged 46
She also shared a fundraiser for the National Alliance on Mental Illness on her social media
JAMES Ransone’s wife has broken her silence to pay tribute to the The Wire star after he was tragically found dead.
Jamie McPhee thanked the late actor for the “greatest gifts” in a heartbreaking Instagram post.
Jamie, who shares son Jack, six, and daughter Violet, four, with the late star, posted a sweet image showing him cradling her baby bump.
She wrote in the caption: “I told you I have loved you 1000 times before and I know I will love you again… 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.”
Jamie has since shared a fundraiser for the National Alliance on Mental Illness on her social media.
Ransone’s cause of death has been determined as suicide, according to the LA County Medical Examiner.
He is best known for playing Ziggy Sobotka in The Wire, a television drama running from 2002 to 2008.
The actor starred in the second season of the show, playing Frank Sobotka’s dock worker son.
In total, he appeared in 12 episodes in 2003 and has taken on a number of other television and film roles.
Shows he featured in include Generation Kill, Bosch, and Poker Face.
Meanwhile, he has starred in films like IT Chapter Two, Prom Night, Mr Right, and The Black Phone, plus the sequel.
In 2021, Ransone revealed that he was a survivor of sexual abuse, claiming that a former tutor abused him for months as a child while growing up in Phoenix, Maryland in 1992.
He said at the time that the alleged abuse led to “a lifetime of shame and embarrassment” contributing to his struggles with alcohol and drugs.
Ransone got sober in 2006 and reported the sexual abuse in 2020 after “confronting his past”.
He was allegedly told by prosecutors later that year that no further investigation would take place and no charges were brought forward.
The same year he got sober, Ransone was hailed a hero for saving a woman from being raped outside his apartment in New York.
The actor was studying for an audition when he heard someone crying out for help and grabbed a metal bar before running outside and confronting the attacker.
“I did what anybody would have done,” he said at the time.
“I pictured my mom, my girlfriend and every girl I’ve ever loved and thought, ‘Vengeance is mine.’”
Tributes have poured in for Ransone, with fans calling him a “magnetic force of nature on and off screen”.
“RIP James Ransone, an extraordinary presence in the film industry. You will be greatly missed,” one wrote.
