The former fiancée of Degrassi star Neil Hope, who played Derek “Wheels” Wheeler, says the actor was found dead by police in a rooming house in Hamilton more than four years ago, unbeknownst to friends and family until earlier this year.
“I was shocked,” said Christina Boulard, fighting back tears in an interview with the Star. Boulard, 37, and Hope dated between 1998 and 2001 and were engaged until the relationship ended amicably.
“I was devastated. I still am,” she said of his death.
Hope was found dead on Nov. 25, 2007 by Hamilton Police, who confirmed his death to the Star.
Boulard said she wants the public to be aware of his death and has been frustrated that he wasn’t being remembered the way he should be.
“He did not deserve this,” she said.
But little is known about how the life of the once spectacled, feather-haired teen adored by fans the world over, came to such a sudden end.
“Everybody falls on hard times,” Boulard said. “Neil had a hard life.”
The star’s personal struggles with his parents’ alcoholism — his father eventually dying of cirrhosis, a disease of the liver — was well documented in interviews with Hope.
On Degrassi High, Hope’s real life was reflected in that of Wheels’ after his onscreen adoptive parents were killed in a drunk-driving accident and Hope’s character was charged in a drunk-driving death late in the series.
But Boulard said when Hope’s brother Danny and his wife, Tracy, began hearing rumours of his death two or three years ago, they brushed it off.
Hope was a very private man, not one to keep up daily or even monthly contact, Boulard said — “That was Neil.”
But two years went by and no one had heard from him.
“That’s when we started to worry,” she said.
Boulard said she lost touch with Hope in 2002, but remained in contact with his family through Facebook.
When they hadn’t heard from Hope, they called Boulard. Finally, they contacted Hamilton Police.
Boulard said police told Hope’s family they had record of someone who had died, but the names and birth date didn’t match up with Hope’s.
She said the family clung to that, hoping it wasn’t him.
But finally, in January of this year, Boulard said police confirmed that Hope had died of “natural causes” in November 2007 at the age of 35.
Hope was buried in March 2008. The location is being kept private, Boulard said.
Hope’s family has asked to be left alone, Boulard said.
The police coroner’s office was not immediately available to confirm the details.
Boulard said she is organizing a private ceremony to remember Hope with help from Amanda Stepto, who played Christine “Spike” Nelson on Degrassi. Hope’s family is planning their own memorial, she said.
As Hope’s character was being eased out of the show in 1991, Hope faded into the background too.
“He was the one that stayed as far away from the public eye afterwards as possible,” Boulard said.
Though he made a few guest appearances on reunion episodes of Degrassi: The Next Generation, Hope went back to being a nobody again, 32 years after the first episode of The Kids of Degrassi Street aired.
Hope, a native of Toronto, retreated to a quiet life in Hamilton, working odd jobs to be near his mother, Boulard said.
He’d always talked about becoming a director, Boulard said, but never reached out to Degrassi’s producers or former castmates, many of whom have go on to have successful careers in the entertainment industry.
Former Degrassi stars shared the news among themselves on Facebook a couple of weeks ago, said Dan Woods, who played teacher, and later principal, Mr. Raditch on the show.
Woods said he first met Hope when he was a teenager on the set of Degrassi Junior High.
“He was a quiet guy when we were off set, but full of energy, very bright-eyed,” Woods said in a phone interview with the Star from California. “We’re all pretty shocked about the news. We’re saddened by it. Neil was a great guy and a great light.”
