Toddlers & Tiaras star Kailia Posey was honored at a celebration of life memorial service that was live-streamed online. Her family and friends gathered at a church in Lynden, Washington on Sunday (May 15) and her brother Jayden Kai openly spoke about how he comforted Kailia while she was upset just days before her suicide. “She came into my room crying and I stopped whatever I was doing. I just hold her, and we lay down on my bed,” he said, according to Daily Mail. “She was wearing this hoodie, and I take it off and just start rubbing her head. I don’t say anything because if she wants to talk she knows she can talk, she knows I’m there for her,” Jayden added. “I continue to hold her, until she stops crying.”
Jayden went on to recall that his sister insisted she was okay and left her brother after the pair said “I love you” to each other, but after 30 minutes passed he checked on her again. “Im sitting there and we’re just talking, and the whole time, I respect her, she’s her own person. I’m not going to force [her to say] anything that she doesn’t want to,” he said at the memorial. “I head back downstairs, but I wanted her to know that she had someone, and that I was always there for her.”
The heartfelt brother-sister encounter happened a few days before May 2, which is when Kailia died by suicide at the age of 16. Kailia’s mother, Marcy Posey Gatterman, posted news of her death on Facebook, before the family confirmed to TMZ that suicide was the cause of Kailia’s death. “Although she was an accomplished teenager with a bright future ahead of her, unfortunately in one impetuous moment, she made the rash decision to end her earthly life,” the family said.
Kailia was a tiny 5-year-old when she appeared on TLC’s popular series Toddlers & Tiaras in 2012. She continued to compete in pageants, with her last mention of one being on April 25, 2021, via Instagram. Kailia was an accomplished contortionist, as well.
If you or someone you know is in crisis, call the National Suicide Prevention Lifeline at 1-800-273-TALK (8255), or contact the Crisis Text Line by texting TALK to 741741.