Read PEOPLE’s 2013 cover story

Saturday, July 13, 2024, marks the eleventh anniversary of the death of Cory Monteith, aged 31, from a heroin and alcohol overdose in his room at the Fairmont Pacific Rim Hotel in Vancouver.

The Joy The actor famously struggled with substance abuse, but seemed to have overcome it after landing a starring role in the hit Fox series. He wowed audiences with his electrifying portrayal of lovable high school quarterback-turned-singer Finn Hudson, and things seemed to be turning for Monteith.

He was in a high-profile relationship with his co-star Lea Michele, had a promising career ahead of him, and had even been through rehab for substance abuse two months earlier. Monteith had exceeded all expectations, from dropping out of high school to landing the lead role in a major television series with a homemade audition video and no vocal training.

But after walking home alone after a night out with friends, Monteith’s old habits returned one last time – shocking fans and friends alike. “Cory was brave enough to want to live the good life,” Canadian talk show host George Stroumboulopoulos said in 2011.

Below is PEOPLE’s cover story from the archives.

On television he played an athlete who sang softly and spoke sweetly, but in real life Cory Monteith liked to describe himself with one word: awkward.

Even after the lanky, 6-foot-3 star became an instant star on the Fox hit “Glee,” “he still thought of himself that way,” says Maureen Webb, one of Monteith’s early mentors who discovered him when he was a 20-year-old who described himself as a “wayward youth.”

When he had dinner with Webb and his manager, Elena Kirschner, at Vancouver’s East of Main restaurant on July 11, Monteith — who had completed rehab for drug abuse two months earlier — was “in great spirits,” Webb says. He abstained from alcohol and drank rhubarb lemonade instead. “He looked so healthy,” she says.

He talked about his recent four-day hike on Vancouver Island’s Juan de Fuca Marine Trail, and when the topic turned to his work with Project Limelight Society, a nonprofit arts program for children, “his face lit up,” says Webb, the group’s co-founder. Having overcome his own difficult childhood, “he said, ‘The performing arts saved my life once. I want to give back.'”

But that was not to be. Just two days later, the 31-year-old star was found dead in his room at the Pacific Rim Hotel, having died from a lethal mix of heroin and alcohol just hours after returning alone from a night out with friends, according to a coroner’s report released on July 16.

“We are shocked and mourn this tragic loss,” his spokesman said in a statement on July 14.

As questions swirled about his death and a possible relapse, those around the star – who had spoken openly about his drug past, telling Parade in 2011 that he was “lucky to be alive” after abusing hard drugs (“anything and everything,” he said) – were stunned.

“This has devastated all of us,” co-star Mike O’Malley, who played the stepfather of Monteith’s character Finn, told PEOPLE. A source from the show adds, “Everyone is stunned.”

It was a sudden end for a young man who had already overcome a series of obstacles. A school dropout who had played his role in Joy At 26, with a homemade audition tape and no vocal training, Monteith exuded a reserved friendliness, but several insiders say he and much of the young cast were living the lifestyle that comes with being single, rich and famous.

“They worked hard and celebrated hard,” says another Joy Source.

At the same time, Monteith was quietly struggling with fame. “Fame was hard on him,” says a friend. “He knew he deserved it, but he never knew how to deal with it.”

And yet, he had found love and happiness last year with his co-star Lea Michele, 26. The actress spent the days after his death hosting visitors at her Hollywood bungalow. Although the two had traveled separately and had not attended an event together since the 12th annual Chrysalis Butterfly Ball in LA on June 8, “they were very happy and in love” when Monteith died, says a source close to the actress.

A friend who has been with her over the past few days says she is devastated: “She needs to be left alone to grieve. Everyone is worried about her.”

Just three months earlier, Michele had been at her boyfriend’s side when he made the surprise announcement that he was going to seek treatment for substance abuse. “I love and support Cory and will stand by him through this,” she told PEOPLE at the time.

Before his admission to rehab, many friends had no idea he was struggling. He was respected for his tireless professionalism on the set of Joy“I never saw him late for work, lose his temper, not know his lines or argue with the crew and his co-workers,” a source from the show says of Monteith, who hosted an end-of-season party for the cast and crew every year.

Given the show’s 10-month filming schedule, endurance is part of the job. “The cast does an hour-long musical every nine days,” the source says. “You have to have superhuman abilities to take drugs on a regular basis and get the work done.”

Perhaps because he was so professional, his descent into addiction was longer than most people thought, says one source, adding that an intervention was staged before his last stay in rehab. “He was a very lovable guy, but his lifestyle was destructive.”

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In his final days, he immersed himself in Vancouver’s nightlife, partying at the Portside Pub and the Queen’s Republic on July 12. A few days earlier, on July 7, he stopped by The Shop cafe, just steps from an alley known for drug dealing.

He was a passionate musician and actor and “had a certain innocence about him,” says Kirk D’Amico, who worked with him on “The Last Man” in 2011. Sisters and brothers and is producer of Monteith’s upcoming release The wrong reasons.

“Even though he was part of this machine that is Fox and Joyyou never got the feeling that he was jaded. There was something Canadian about him. He had this really charming lightness about him. Usually people who have drugs in their past seem much darker.”

But Monteith has never hidden his own dark past. He grew up in Victoria, BC, the youngest son of Ann, an interior designer, and Joe, a retired soldier. “I never fit in,” he told Parade in 2011. His parents divorced when he was seven, and at 13 he was skipping school to get drunk and smoke weed. An intervention and subsequent stint in rehab at 19 failed, and it wasn’t until a relative confronted him about stealing money that he began sobriety in earnest.

“I was tired of fighting against myself,” he said in 2011. “I finally said to myself, ‘I’m going to start looking at my life and figure out why I’m doing this.'”

He was soon discovered in a youth art group. “I thought, ‘He seems interesting,'” Webb recalls. A series of small roles led to his big break in Joy. “I remember him calling me,” says Lesley Diana, his press secretary at the time. “He said, ‘I’ve got the part! I’ve got it!’ He was just thrilled.”

But over time, he began to chafe at the gap between his squeaky-clean alter ego and his own complex reality. “You see this young, all-American quarterback guy … and you immediately make assumptions,” he told Canadian talk show host George Stroumboulopoulos in 2011. The host says, “Cory was brave enough to want to live a good life.”

Recently, he had started to branch out and took on the role of an addict in the drama McCanick. “He said, ‘I was that character,'” says director Josh C. Waller. Adds Sisters and brothers Director Carl Bessai: “Whatever was bothering him, he wanted to channel into his work.”

Joy Producers, meanwhile, are grappling with the sudden loss of one of their biggest stars, whose character had gone off to college and was absent from the final episodes of the last season to support Monteith in his rehab. Filming on the fifth season was supposed to begin in late July, with a premiere scheduled for September 19, but Monteith’s death has thrown those plans into disarray.

Will the series address the character’s departure? “I don’t know,” says one Joy Source. (Editor’s note: The show finally paid tribute to Monteith in an October 2013 episode titled “The Quarterback.”)

Despite all the unanswered questions, one thing is certain: “It’s going to be really hard when we go back to work,” the source says. “Cory was such a sweetheart.”

By Michelle Tauber, Elaine Aradillas and Heidi Staseson in Vancouver; Pernilla Cedenheim, Melody Chiu, Champ Clark, Jennifer Garcia, Patrick Gomez, Elizabeth Leonard, Raha Lewis, Mabel Martinez, Aili Nahas and Monica Rizzo in LA and Mary Green in NYC

If you or someone you know is struggling with substance abuse, please call the SAMHSA Helpline at 1-800-662-HELP.