Cory Monteith’s death follows efforts at rehab

The sudden death of 31-year old Canadian Glee star Cory Monteith came several months after he had voluntarily checked himself into a treatment facility for substance addiction.

Monteith had publicly discussed his struggles with drug and alcohol addiction and in late March had gone back into treatment.

At that time, the actor’s girlfriend and Glee co-star, Lea Michele, released a public statement expressing her “love and support” for Monteith, saying she would “stand by him through this.”

After a month-long stay, he exited the facility and was spotted by the paparazzi vacationing in Mexico with Michele, 26. In June, the two walked the red carpet in Los Angeles at the Chrysalis Butterfly Ball, a high-profile charity event.

In response to a question about whether Monteith 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”.

Because of his rehab stint, Monteith did not appear on the final episodes of the fourth Glee season. His character, Finn Hudson, was last seen on an episode that first aired in April in which he and Glee club leader Will Schuester (Matthew Morrison) agree to team up to lead the singing group to a regional competition.

Monteith had been open about his earlier struggles with addiction. In a 2011 interview with Parade he spoke about his decision to check himself into rehab at age 19 after years of using “anything and everything, as much as possible. I had a serious problem.”