BC coroner confirms cause of death for ‘Glee’ star Cory Monteith
Jul 16, 2013, 2:07 PM | Updated: 2:44 pm
This Aug. 19, 2012 file photo shows actor Cory Monteith at the 2012 Do Something awards in Santa Monica, Calif. Monteith, who shot to fame in the hit TV series "Glee" but was beset by addiction struggles so fierce that he once said he was lucky to be alive, was found dead in a Vancouver hotel room. He was 31. (Photo by Jordan Strauss/Invision/AP, File)
(Photo by Jordan Strauss/Invision/AP, File)
Autopsy and toxicology results following the death of “Glee” star Cory Monteith on Saturday have been released.
“Post-mortem testing, which included an autopsy and toxicological analysis, found that Mr. Monteith, aged 31, died of a mixed drug toxicity, involving heroin and alcohol,” says the report from the BC Coroners Service.
Monteith, the heartthrob actor who became an overnight star as a high school quarterback-turned-singer in the hit TV series “Glee,” was found dead in a hotel room Saturday.
The Canadian-born actor, who played Finn Hudson on the Fox TV series about a high school glee club, was found dead around noon in his room on the 21st floor of the Fairmont Pacific Rim Hotel on Vancouver’s waterfront, according to police.
Monteith had openly talked about struggling with addiction since he was a teenager, saying he had a serious problem and took just “anything and everything.” He told Parade magazine in 2011 that he was “lucky to be alive.”
In April, Monteith checked himself in to a treatment facility for “substance addiction” and asked for privacy as he took steps toward recovery, a representative said at the time. It was not his first time in rehab. He received treatment when he was 19.
The BC Coroners Office says the investigation into his death is continuing, but they say, “there is no evidence to suggest Mr. Monteith’s death was anything other than a most-tragic accident.”
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
