“Descendants 3’s” Dove Cameron, Sofia Carson, Booboo Stewart and director Kenny Ortega opened up about grief and healing on Thursday morning in their first interviews since the death of costar Cameron Boyce.
The Disney Channel star was 20 years old when he died due to an epileptic seizure on July 6. While chatting with “Good Morning America,” his friends remembered him as “wonderful,” “beautiful” and “bioluminescent.”
“Even when he was around, he’s the hardest person to put into words, you know —sorry,” Cameron said, blinking back tears.
Like his colleagues, Boyce was involved in multiple Disney projects, starring first in the series “Jessie” and later as the son of Cruella de Vil in “Descendants” and “Descendants 2.” The newest installment in the musical TV movie franchise, featuring Boyce, airs later this week on Disney Channel. The studio previously made the decision to cancel the film’s world premiere event out of respect for Boyce and his loved ones.
“If you could bottle up happiness, that was Cam,” Carson added in a remote interview from Canada. “He was pure happiness and pure joy. There will never be any words to describe the pain and how much we miss him. And not much helps except knowing that he lived life with more happiness than anyone I’ve ever known.”
The actors also shared their final conversations with their friend, with whom they planned on reuniting for the “Descendants 3” press tour.
“It was pretty normal,” Cameron recalled. “We all expected to see each other a lot more.”
While Ortega called the loss of Boyce “as tough as it gets” in his 69 years of life experience, 21-year-old Stewart was processing an unfamiliar kind of grief.
“This was the first time I’ve ever dealt with anything like this,” he said. “They said just to be OK with any thought that you have.”
The castmates comforted one another throughout the interview as they talked about what Boyce meant to them, personally, and to the world —especially the young fans who grew up watching him on Disney.
“Even when he was standing still, he was bioluminescent,” Ortega said. “He was lit from the inside, out.”
“Descendants 3” will include a dedication and tribute video to Boyce when it premieres on Disney Channel on Friday.