‘Glee’s Cory Monteith has revealed that he has battled with drug addiction since he was 13 years old, US Magazine is reporting. The now-29-year-old actor from Victoria, British Columbia said after his parents divorced when he was a child, he began cutting school to get drunk and smoke pot. He eventually dropped out when he was 16, and began using even more drugs.
Monteith told Parade that he burned a lot of bridges while he was doing drugs. He added that he did “anything and everything, as much as possible…I had a serious problem.” His mother and family friends intervened when he was 19, feeling an intervention was necessary to keep him alive.
While Monteith went to rehab after the intervention, he admitted that when he left, he went back to exactly what he was doing before he entered. He said he knew he hit bottom when he stole a significant amount of money from a family member. “I knew I was going to get caught, but I was so desperate I didn’t care. It was a cry for help.” He added that when he was confronted, he admitted he stole the money. “It was the first honorable, truthful thing that had come out of my mouth in years.”
After being an ultimatum from his family to either go back to rehab or being arrested, he decided to turn his life around. He later moved in with a friend and became a roofer.
Monteith admitted to his drug use because “I don’t want kids to think it’s okay to drop out of school and get high, and they’ll be famous actors, too.” He received his high school diploma this past spring.
Written by: Karen Benardello
Cory Monteith
