'Glee' star Cory Monteith reveals ‘out of control’ drug use, rehab stint from his past

Cory Monteith has found success with his role as Finn Hudson on Glee, but the 29-year-old reveals in a new interview that his past decisions almost stopped him from getting there.

Monteith tells Parade that growing up in British Columbia was hard since his parents divorced when he was 7. He revealed that he had begun cutting school, getting drunk, and smoking marijuana by the age of 13. By 16, he had dropped out of school, where his drug habit became more of a problem.

“I’m lucky to be alive,” he told the magazine. “I burned a lot of bridges. I was out of control. [I did] anything and everything, as much as possible. I had a serious problem.”

Monteith added that he began to turn his life around at 19, when his mom, fearing he “could die,” staged an intervention with a group of his friends.

“That’s when I first went to rehab. I did the stint but then went back to doing exactly what I left off doing," he admitted.

Although his first try at treatment failed, he ultimately credits one event for turning his life around.

“I stole a significant amount of money from a family member,” he recalled. “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.”

From that point, he’d either need to get clean, or have the family member press charges. He chose to turn his life around.

“I was done fighting myself,” he said. “I finally said, ‘I’m gonna start looking at my life and figure out why I’m doing this.’”

From that revelation, Monteith moved in with a friend in Canada and got a job as a roofer. He quit his drug habit and began working with an acting coach. It was then he had satisfaction “working hard and being good at something.”

Monteith eventually obtained his high school diploma, and he also reunited with his father in 2009, 17 years after he’d seen him last.

“He reached out to me on Facebook. I couldn’t shut the door, so I got on a plane,” he said of meeting his father again. “He greeted me at the airport, and [he and my stepmother] were so happy they were almost crying. It was a good time. At some point, you realize your parents are human. They make the best decisions they can.”

The actor concluded the interview by saying he wanted to open up about his past to bring light to others who are struggling.

“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. … But for those people who might give up: Get real about what you want and go after it. If I can, anyone can,” he said.