14 DAY TRIAL // “Glee” actor Cory Monteith died at the weekend of a supposed drug overdose, at the age of 31. With toxicology results expected for this week, his cousin, Richard Monteith, is urging fans and the media to remember Cory as the amazing artist and human being he was.
In the first television interview since the actor’s death and in the eve of the announcement with the official cause of death, Richard pleads with fans.
“Please don’t judge on what is gonna be coming out,” he says, as cited by the Daily Mail.
“Glass half full. All the good things that he’s done. There’s more things on that side to focus on. Cory was beautifully genuine. He would do anything for anyone. Give you the shirt off his back,” Richard explains.
He says that, while fans were shocked to hear of Cory’s death, he was even more surprised because he didn’t know there was a problem.
“I didn’t see it coming. As guys, we didn’t really talk too much about problems,” he explains.
“But for me, anyways, that’s not the focus. People are gonna focus on this last chapter as a bad thing. Don’t use the last chapter do judge someone’s life… Because his life is full of beautiful stories and failures and successes,” Richard continues.
“It doesn’t matter about his problems. It matters about the lives he changed. It matters that he was genuine,” he adds.
Police have ruled out foul play as the cause of death. Reports indicate that Cory spent his final night out on the town with friends, returning to his hotel room alone.
His body was found hours after death by hotel staff who came up because he had missed his check-out.
Cory never made a secret of his severe drug addiction but, in April this year, he checked into rehab again for 30 days, as part of his continued efforts to stay clean.