Canadian actor Cory Monteith in May, 2012.DARRYL DYCK/The Canadian Press
Sunday was the anniversary of Cory Monteith's death and today, ABC aired an interview recorded this week with his mother, Ann McGregor, on Good Morning America. It's the first time she's spoken publicly about losing her son. "The loss is horrendous," she told co-anchor Bianna Golodryga. "Until three days ago I couldn't look at a picture of Cory. So there's been progress." Still, she was unable to talk about the day of Monteith's death.
Monteith was a lead actor on the hit show Glee when he suddenly died at 31. An autopsy ruled his death was caused by a mixed-drug toxicity, including alcohol and heroin. It was not the first time Monteith had overdosed and he checked himself into rehab in March, 2013.
McGregor described a "code blue" when her son was just 15-years-old. She remembers hugging him and thinking even then that she knew she would not have him for her entire life.
She suggested his struggle linked back to a difficult relationship with his father, who was divorced from McGregor and estranged from the family. "He had a lot of emotional things he was trying to figure out. A lot of it was he really wanted a relationship with his father. I think when a child gets invalidated they keep reaching even harder. They want to find out why," she said. Joe Monteith was not invited to the private viewing, which was followed by a cremation.
Monteith himself had opened up about his troubled past, admitting he'd been caught stealing to support his "dire" habit. "The underlying problem was that I wasn't ok with myself," he'd said. "Things got really bad, really ugly."
McGregor mentioned Lea Michele as well, the Glee star who was Monteith's girlfriend both on-screen and off-screen. "She's hurting too. You see the sadness. I know her pain."
On July 9, Monteith's father Joe spoke to ET Canada about his son's death as well. "I still miss him very much and I still have the empty feeling inside," he said. He said that they had begun to reconnect in the last years of his son's life.
"Cory was a likeable young man and if he was in the room, you'd be smiling," said Joe. "He enjoyed life. That's why I was so shocked about the outcome of everything."
The anniversary of his death saw tributes pouring in. Fans in Vancouver gathered around the Fairmont Pacific Rim hotel, where Monteith was found dead, and sang Journey's Don't Stop Believin', which was one of his most memorable performances on Glee.
Monteith had supported the Vancouver's Downtown Eastside arts charity Project Limelight.
Michele tweeted a photo of him Sunday with the message "We hold you in our hearts today, and every day we remember your smile. We will love you and miss you always."
Queen Bey indeed
The 2014 Video Music Awards nominee list has been released and there are few surprises. Topping the list is Beyoncé with eight nods, including Video of the Year, Best Female Video and Best Choreography. Beyoncé's Drunk In Love, Partition, and Pretty Hurts all got some love. Eminem and Iggy Azalea each received seven nominations. Beyonce has had a total of 12 wins and Eminem has 11, while Madonna holds the record with 20. The show will run on MTV on Aug. 24.
Source: MTV
To the future
You don't need to be a Futurama fan to think this is pretty cool. Russian artist Alexey Zakharov has created a 3D version of New New York in the 31st century and it's getting rave reviews across the Web. He also depicts the Planet Express ship in exquisite detail. A video shows a richly colourful city with flying vehicles and holographic ads. .
Source: Mashable
Celine Dion says René Angelil is doing well
After rumours about her 72-year-old husband's health, Celine Dion told fans that he's doing "really well." René Angelil had partially stepped away from managing Dion's career last month. "He's working really hard on his health and he's being a dad at the house, which I'm really happy about," Dion said at a news conference following a fundraising event for Montreal's Ste-Justine's children's hospital on Wednesday. Angelil had surgery in December to remove a cancerous tumour and was treated for throat cancer in 1999.
Source: CBC
Why Jillian Michaels left The Biggest Loser
Jillian Michaels has spoken out about her departure from hit television show The Biggest Loser after 10 years as star trainer on the program . She implies she was unhappy with how the show portrayed her. "There were some fundamental differences [with Loser's producers] that have existed for a while," she said. While she was once shown as both tough and loving, she says in more recent years only the tough was aired. "You saw none of the relationships, none of the bonds that I build with my clients." She added that the negative public sentiment against her started to hamper her relationships with her partner and young children, who bore at least some of the brunt of hostility towards their mom. This is the third time Michaels has left the show.
Source: People
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