Cory Monteith - Early Life

Early Life

Monteith, born in Calgary, Alberta, is the youngest son of Ann McGregor, an interior decorator, and Joe Monteith, a military man who served in the Princess Patricia's Canadian Light Infantry. He has an older brother named Shaun. Monteith's parents divorced when he was seven, and he and his older brother were raised by their mother in Victoria, British Columbia. Dealing with the intermittent absence of his father, and feeling like an outsider among his peers, he started to display signs of a troubled youth; Monteith - once a promising student, who, at age 5, could read at a fourth-grade level - began to drink, smoke pot, and skip school.

After attending 12 different schools, including alternative programs for troubled teens, he eventually quit school at the age of 16. By that time, his drug and alcohol addiction had increased and Monteith turned to petty crimes, such as stealing money from friends and family, in order to fund his addictions. The turning point in Monteith's life came when his mother and a group of friends staged an intervention, and he was sent to rehab at 19. Looking back, Monteith stated “I’m lucky on so many counts—I’m lucky to be alive." He eventually received his high school diploma in 2011 from an alternative school he had attended in his youth in Victoria, British Columbia.

Prior to breaking into show business, Monteith worked various jobs, including Wal-Mart people greeter, taxicab driver, school bus driver, and roofer.