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This archival content was written, edited, and published prior to LAist's acquisition by its current owner, Southern California Public Radio ("SCPR"). Content, such as language choice and subject matter, in archival articles therefore may not align with SCPR's current editorial standards. To learn more about those standards and why we make this distinction, please click here.

Arts & Entertainment

Cory Monteith Was With Sober Friends The Night He Died

corymonteith.jpg
Cory Monteith at the 18th Annual Critics' Choice Movie Awards in January 2013. (Photo by Frazer Harrison/Getty Images)

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Since his tragic death in mid-July, speculation has run rampant as to what Cory Monteith was doing the night that he passed away of a heroin and alcohol overdose. The 31-year-old actor had reportedly been sober in recent weeks after a stint in rehab, and some wondered if he had fallen back in with friends who were using.

But according to his acting coach and friend Andrew McIlroy, Monteith was surrounded by a supportive group of three close friends that night. McIlroy told People magazine:

"They weren't strangers, they weren't bad guys. They were longtime sober friends. Cory knew them maybe 10 years. Essentially, he had spent time with [them] as sober people...They were not using with him [that night]. There was no double life up here."

McIlroy adds that Monteith had seemed "fine" leading up to his death, noting that he had seen the actor just weeks earlier, when he was just out of rehab.

Monteith's death shook his friends and family. "Glee" costars have been vocal in recalling what an amazing person he was, and his girlfriend, actress Lea Michele, spoke out about his passing.

Michele also tweeted a photo of herself on the set of the hit TV show yesterday, with the caption, "Feels so good to be home... #GleeSeason5."

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