'Glee' Star Cory Monteith's Troubled Teen Journey

Have you ever watched the popular series Glee on Fox television? The June 26, 1011 issue of Parade magazine featured star Cory Monteith's "how-I-changed-my-life" story in an interview with Shawna Malcolm.

Monteith was born in Calgary, Alberta, in 1982. He plays Finn Hudson, male lead of the glee club and quarterback of his high school football team. And since he began acting at the age of 21, he has appeared in over a dozen movies and over a dozen television shows.

The Parade article reveals that his success was preceded by a troubled teen journey. As a young boy, Monteith was an outstanding student. But his parents divorced when he was only seven years old, and by the time his teen journey began, his anger turned into rebellion and he began skipping school to get drunk and smoke marijuana. He dropped out of school in the ninth grade.

At age 19, his mother, worried that his drug use could kill him, staged an intervention to get him into rehab. After treatment, he relapsed. But when he stole money from a family member for drugs, the person threatened to press charges unless he got clean.

With his back against the wall, he decided to deal with his problem. He got treatment and moved in with a relative in Vancouver. He worked a variety of jobs, such as driving a taxi and roofing. On the side, he worked with an acting coach. He was stimulated by his progress as an actor, and soon he was getting parts. He landed the Glee role in 2009, and his future as an actor looks bright.

It's easy to see how his teen journey went badly. A young man can react to the loss of a father's love with anger and guilt. Lacking perspective and self-awareness, he made self-destructive choices. Few parents have the skills and personal strength to deal with this kind of extreme behavior.

Cory Monteith did the hard things to turn his life around. But he also had a lot of luck. He was lucky because the people who cared enough about him to force him to take responsibility. He was lucky that he discovered an activity that he's passionate about. And he was lucky that his kind of talent was what the entertainment industry was looking for.

Not everyone capitalizes on their good fortune. So you have to give him credit. When the doors opened, he walked through them.

Post by Dennis E. Coates, Ph.D., Copyright 2011. Building Personal Strength . (Photo by Greg Hernandez used under the terms of the Wikimedia Commons license.)