‘Real World’ and ‘Celebrity Rehab’ alum Joey Kovar dead at 29

Another “Celebrity Rehab” graduate has died of apparent substance abuse. On Friday, the body of “Real World: Hollywood” cast member Joey Kovar was found at a friend’s home just outside Chicago. According to TMZ, a female friend discovered the 29-year-old’s body, which had blood coming out of his ears and nose. Friends and family also tell the site that they believe drugs are to blame.

Kovar is the fourth person who has appeared on Dr. Drew’s VH1 show to die in the past 18 months. In March 2011, former Alice in Chains bassist Mike Starr overdosed on prescription pills at a home in Utah, that May "Grease" star Jeff Conaway died in the same manner, and just this past June, Rodney King was found drowned in his pool after a night of drinking and smoking marijuana. Kovar was on the third season of “Celebrity Rehab” in 2009 for his addiction to cocaine and ecstasy.

His stint on the “Real World” was brief, but memorable. Halfway through the 2008 season, he entered rehab following scary outbursts directed at his castmates. “I’m sorry, you guys,” a sobbing Kovar told them when he announced he would be leaving the show. “This is so hard, this is so embarrassing. I’m sorry, you guys, I don’t mean to act like this … I don’t mean to be a bad person.” As his understanding roomies hugged him, he told them about a moment the previous year when he had done so much cocaine and drank so much alcohol, that he thought he was “ready to die.” But then four months before he joined the MTV show, he insisted he had quit it all. Sadly, once he moved to Hollywood, “Boom, here comes the monster again,” he said through tears.

A look at Kovar’s Twitter feed shows a guy who was hopeful about his future. On Wednesday, the last day he was alive, he sent out a string of positive tweets. The final one: “Do not let what you cannot do interfere with what you can do.”

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