Funeral Service In Oak Lawn For Troubled, Combustible Bodybuilder
“Joey Kovar – a native of Evergreen Park who appeared in Real World: Hollywood and Celebrity Rehab 3 – was found dead Friday morning in south suburban Chicago Ridge, according to family and police,” the Tribune reports.
“An autopsy conducted on Saturday was inconclusive and the cause of death was pending toxicological test results, officials said today.”
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“His friends were shocked but they were also not surprised because he had been sending suicidal texts lately,” says Celebrity Video Forums.
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“Kovar famously battled his addictions while on the Real World, even leaving the show midway through the season in 2008 to enter rehab,” MTV reports.
“He ultimately returned to the production, but left again for fear that he might relapse. On the reunion special, Kovar shared that he had been sober for a year.
“However, he continued to battle demons, later appearing on the VH1 reality show Celebrity Rehab in 2009, after he relapsed and began using cocaine and ecstasy again.”
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“Joey was discovered by a female friend early this morning who noticed blood coming out of Joey’s ears and nose,” according to TMZ.
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TMZ also reports that Kovar had mixed cocaine, alcohol and Viagra before dying, but his family says they do not suspect drugs. Police, however, say they do not suspect foul play.
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Visitation will be in Evergreen Park; the funeral service in Oak Lawn.
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Wrestling rap from July 2008:
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Win a day with Joey:
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His Celebrity Rehab cast bio:
“Joey Kovar worked as a personal trainer and aspiring actor in Chicago when he was cast on The Real World: Hollywood in 2008. His ‘big break’ fell apart though when he became uncontrollably drunk and high on drugs during the show. His behavior became so outrageous that he was asked to leave the program. It was this very public fall that brought Joey’s long struggle with addiction to light. It soon became known that Joey had been abusing massive amounts of alcohol, cocaine, ecstasy, meth and, as part of his bodybuilding, steroids since he was a teenager and had come very close to death through an overdose.”
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Comments welcome.
Posted on August 20, 2012