R.I.P. CORY MONTEITH

Glee star Cory Monteith has passed away. (Vancouver police confirmed the news at a press conference late Saturday night.) To say that I’m in shock is an understatement. I think I was still in denial about the fact that he’d gone to rehab earlier this year. Maybe it’s because he always looked so happy and clean cut, or because his character on Glee, Finn Hudson, was generally such a clean cut, nice guy. But I can’t recall the last time I was so stunned by a celebrity death.

I think it hits you a bit harder when television stars pass away because you see them on your television — in your home — every week. It’s no secret that people tend to form stronger attachments to television characters than movie characters for this very reason. During the course of a series, you might spend hundreds and hundreds of hours with a character, whereas even in the case of a successful film franchise you’re lucky if you get 10 hours with the characters. Suffice to say that television characters feel more like family or close friends. Obviously, I would be more shaken if an actual family member or friend passed away, but to whatever extent it’s possible to be disturbed by a celebrity death, I am disturbed by this.

Very little about Cory’s death is known at this time. His publicist, Melissa Kates, issued the statement below to USA TODAY:

“We are so saddened to confirm that the reports on the death of Cory Monteith are accurate. We are in shock and mourning this tragic loss.”

According to People magazine, Cory went out with friends Friday evening then returned to his room at Vancouver’s Fairmont Pacific Rim hotel alone during the early morning. It was there that he passed away in his room on the 21st floor. He’d checked in on July 6 and was scheduled to check out today. When he missed the noon check-out time, hotel staff went to check and discovered that he’d died. Cause of death has not been revealed.