Photographer James Hickey, a one-time close friend of the late Lauren Bennett, says he’s still struggling to process the singer’s death at just 36.
“I didn’t hear about her death until recently,” Hickey exclusively tells Us Weekly. “It hit me hard.”
While Hickey and Bennett had lost touch in the last decade, the pair once shared a deep bond.
“She was super humble. I know people talk like this, but it is really true,” he recalls. “She was very kind, very gracious and took things seriously and it gave me the experience that it was an important alliance and an important multi-tiered friendship. It was exciting and it was the right place and right time.”
Bennett’s former G.R.L. bandmates announced the musician’s death on Monday, July 6.
“It is with great sadness that we share the passing of our beloved Lauren,” their statement read. “Our hearts are broken, and we cannot begin to express how much she meant to us. We will forever cherish the love, laughter and countless memories she gave us. Her beautiful spirit touched so many lives and she will be deeply missed and forever loved. Rest peacefully, sweet Lauren. You will be in our hearts.”
A cause of death has not yet been revealed, but Kent & Medway Coroners in the U.K. confirmed “an inquest into the circumstances was opened.”
Keep scrolling for Hickey’s memories of Bennett and more:
How Lauren Bennett and James Hickey Met
Bennett and Hickey formed a friendship and creative partnership as they were chasing their California dreams in front of and behind the camera during the early years of their careers. And their lives intersected in an unconventional way 18 years ago.
“We met in L.A. in 2008. I had an ad on CraigsList that I was giving photography lessons and she [gave] me a call, and at the time, I was getting a lot of bands and musicians,” Hickey tells Us. “She was cool and sounded different. She didn’t play that [famous] card. She said, ‘I’m back in the U.S. in six weeks. I’m on tour and I’m in a girl band.’ I thought. ‘Yeah right, I know this story.’ But she looked me up and she came over and she is the real deal.”
According to Hickey, he and Bennett were “always mixing it up.”
“She hooked me up a lot with Interscope Records, she connected me with LMFAO [because] one of the guys was her bandmate’s boyfriend,” the photographer says. “I remember doing a workout video for Pussycat Dolls and Lauren was in it.”
He continues, “I remember she [also] personally hooked me up. She was learning photography so she could photograph [DJ] Havana Brown. She was tuning her creative eye. She said, ‘I got this girl and we could shoot her, and she would give us a couple thousand bucks. Help me, and I’ll split it with you.’”
Bennett, however, “kind of got distracted with photography,” per Hickey, and dove deeper into her music career.
A Sibling Dynamic
Hickey often thought of Bennett like a sister.
“She gave me that buddy experience and she would take on a sister role,” he recalls to Us. “I remember I’d be in a long-term relationship and something changed the direction of the relationship and she was [supportive] like a sister would. I could talk to her about anything and she tried to be as fair as she could as to why she was so biased on her balance and not just giving word service.”
Hickey repaid the favor when “extremely intelligent” and “sensitive” Bennett broke up with Footloose reboot actor Kenny Wormald.
“He was cool to me, but when he had a falling-out with her, I had to take her side completely. She was my friend, that’s why I knew him,” Hickey says. “She had a bright disposition, she was fun and supportive. Then, all of a sudden he had a lead role opportunity … [and] I remember I never saw her angst[y] about anything but this breakup.”
According to Hickey, the late singer was also “so supportive” when his sister died.
“I was in an accident myself as COVID started, [which] put me in a coma and I was coming through this recovery and I had not been in communication with her much,” he tells Us. “I reached out and I knew that [she] and Kenny got back together, and she seemed really happy about that.”
After Bennett and Wormald broke up again, Hickey found his pal “rightfully” upset about the separation.
Bennett and Wormald later reunited, welcoming 6-year-old daughter Harlow.
Growing Apart
Hickey lost touch with Bennett in 2015.
“I haven’t photographed [Lauren] in 10 years. There were infrequent check-ins after that,” he notes. “It’s confusing and it is like I’m starting to lose friends in the industry. I could understand the other ones, but not her.”
Substance Abuse History?
Bennett’s father Richard Bennett claimed that the musician had an allergic reaction to a prescribed medication months before her death.
“As a family, we all rallied around her and did everything we could to support her,” he wrote on Instagram. “We have no suspicions regarding the circumstances of her death, only deep disappointment that, for five months, medical professionals and NHS services failed to treat her appropriately during her time of greatest need.”
And Hickey remembers his friend as having no known substance abuse issues.
Possible Suicide?
According to reports, police in England are investigating whether Bennett died by suicide.
“That was my biggest fear,” Hickey tells Us. “I just hope that is not it. That is not the girl I knew. Not at all.”
Bennett’s former girl group, G.R.L. experienced another tragedy in 2014 when member Simone Battle died by suicide at 25. Shortly after, the group disbanded.
“She took the Simone thing really hard,” Hickey says. “When Simone passed that was really difficult. Imagine this person is close enough that she is in your house, a bandmate, almost family. [Lauren] was very serious and grounded in a way that when someone builds protective shields for themselves. She was not erratic. She was just presenting hard facts. … She did present to me in a sad, stable way that was emotionally protecting [herself] and at the same time she was strong and stoic but not in a way to dismiss the hard truths that she was facing.”
Her Legacy
“She was the kind of person where she was good at everything,” Hickey tells Us. “She had a high visual IQ.”
He adds, “She was cool and creative. Somehow the musician card didn’t even hit my radar. Everything else was louder with her. I really thought highly of her. She was a buddy, sister figure at times, and she was a creative ally at times.”
