A couple of years ago I stayed with long-time friends in Victoria while attending a conference. During an evening chat they asked if I knew the TV show Glee. I was never a Gleek, but who didn't? The friends have never been connected to cable so they hadn't seen it ,but they proceeded to tell me that for a while Cory Monteith, one of the Glee stars, had lived in their basement. It seemed so improbable, but apparently Monteith had made a connection with their conservative but welcoming Christian community. There were a lot of "strays" in this little church and young Cory needed a place to stay, He ended up with their family when the two girls were young. As later teens when I visited it didn't really register to be stars-struck.
Montieih died over the weekend at age thirty-one, which is very sad. He always acknowledged that he struggled with addictions along the way, and it may be that he died alone in a hotel room because of an overdose. He also willingly admitted that he wasn't the popular, high-achieving character, Finn, he played on Glee. He was big and awkward and had worked as a Walmart greeter and taxi driver in his wayward teens.
There is a persistent myth of celebrity which doesn't go well with the realities of loneliness and uncertainty and human struggle. I wonder if our friends even heard of Cory's death, and what their reaction might be. I'm glad they were around to be hospitable at a stage of his life.
Thoughts?
2 comments:
We have been on a bit of a news hiatus while on holiday but I did pick up the paper because of this headline. We have 3 fairly regular Glee followers and when I watch it with them, admittedly I enjoy it and usually find it worthwhile.
I didn't know Cory 's backstory but found his unlikely rise to fame inspiring,as I read. My kids did know of his addiction problems and I think his death scared us all a bit, as we think of young people we know struggling with "life" and involved in "recreational" drug use and worry and wonder to what end, when a story like this hits the news.
I admire your friends generosity to take in "strangers" and likely was something good at a bad time in his life. I imagine there are a few stories where such
a welcome could be life changing. I guess that is the hope in these heartbreaking stories.
On a lighter note, 3 girls at my house were duly starstruck by your Victoria connection....you don't know Leonardo DiCaprio do ya?
We were awaiting our flight back to Canada, and while in the airport in Shanghai my husband and daughter logged on to CBC at a station provided to travelers. My daughter came running back to me with the news of Cory's death. She was upset and since our arrival home she has read all of the teen magazines with all of the info about him. We are a Glee family and like Laura's girls our daughter knew of the addiction problems Cory had. We discussed addictions and it is my hope that our daughter gets it.
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