The grandfather of Laurel Griggs on Monday shared a poem the 13-year-old wrote before she died of a massive asthma attack last week, saying the teen was more of a scholar than a performer.
The poem for her friend is titled "Society Is Wrong" and asks deep questions.
"Why do we feel we must meet society’s expectations for us?"
"Why do I feel like I’ll never be smart enough, or kind enough?"
"Why do I feel like in order to be accepted I must skip a meal or suck in my stomach?"
Griggs tells her friend: "Don’t change the way you look, you act, you feel. ... Don’t be someone else even though some days you will feel like you need to be."
She writes in the poem that "no one is perfect" and "being yourself is good enough."
"Laurel was a scholar more than an actress and society can only dream of what a difference she would have made if her life continued," her grandfather, David Rivlin, wrote on Facebook.
Rivlin said following the teen's funeral in New York on Friday that his "heart is broken forever with the tragic loss of my granddaughter."
Griggs made her Broadway debut at the age of 6 in the 2013 production of "Cat on a Hot Tin Roof" alongside Scarlett Johansson. She then starred on Broadway as Ivanka in "ONCE" for 17 months, making her the longest-running actress to play the role in the history of the production.
She also appeared in "Cafe Society" and TV series "Louie" and "Bubble Guppies." She twice appeared on "Saturday Night Live."
"Laurel was a brilliant young lady whose impact in the lives of everyone she met went far beyond her immense talent," said a statement from Young Broadway Actor News. "Her wisdom and kindness were gifts to the theatre community during her time on Earth."
