Cory Monteith, the 31-year-old Canadian actor who starred as the character "Finn Hudson" in Fox's musical-comedy television series "Glee,"
was found dead in his Vancouver hotel room on Saturday.
Monteith had battled substance abuse for years, having checked into multiple rehab programs during his life, most recently completing a
month-long rehab treatment in April, according to People magazine.
Though it is unclear what addiction led Monteith to seek treatment in this instance, the young Canadian actor had
admitted in the past to abusing alcohol and drugs, the Los Angeles Times reported.
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In a 2011 interview with Parade magazine, Monteith discussed his troubled youth.
"I’m lucky on so many counts—
I’m lucky to be alive," Monteith told Parade magazine.
In the article, Monteith describes a youth plagued by drugs, alcohol and truancy.
Living with his mother in Victoria, British Columbia, after his parents had divorced when he was 7, Monteith recalled often skipping school in order to smoke pot and drink.
Before the age of 16, Monteith says he attended 12 different schools, one of which was an alternative program for troubled teens.
"I burned a lot of bridges. I was out of control," Monteith told Parade. "I had a serious problem."
When asked by Parade what if any drugs he used in addition to marijuana and alcohol, Monteith said "Anything and everything, as much as possible."
Fearing his death was eminent, Monteith's mother enrolled him in rehab at age 19.
However it was not until he was later caught stealing money from a relative that he began down a path to recovery at the time.
"I stole a significant amount of money from a family member," Monteith said. "I knew I was going to get caught, but I was so desperate I didn’t care. It was a cry for help. I was confronted and I said, ‘Yeah, it was me.’ It was the first honorable, truthful thing that had come out of my mouth in years."
Following the theft, he was given the option to either get clean or be prosecuted for his crime.
Monteith decided to get clean.
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Canadian authorities would not say what Monteith's cause of death was, though no signs of foul play were found by police or paramedics at the scene, Reuters reports.
In response to media inquiries as to whether the young actor died of a drug overdose, Vancouver Police Department acting chief Doug LePard said he would "not discuss anything that we might have found in the room at this time."
An autopsy was set for Monday, LePard added.
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