He took his own life Tuesday morning, but a pal of Mark Salling tells RadarOnline.com exclusively the disgraced star was "isolated" and "miserable" in the years leading up to his tragic suicide.
The friend, who requested anonymity, revealed she first noticed a drastic change in Salling's personality when she spoke to him last about a year-and-a-half ago.
"He was different for a while," said the pal. "He sheltered himself. He pushed a lot of people out after what happened. He felt very isolated at his ranch. He was miserable."
As Radar readers know, the shamed actor was awaiting sentencing on child porn charges. He was expected to serve up to seven years behind bars for his crimes.
cutting his wrists, though his rep denied reports.
While the friend described his suicide as "shocking," she admitted to knowing the pain he was in in the years leading up to his death.
"I asked him if everything was okay and he gave me a straight up 'no,'" the pal recalls of one of the last conversations she had with the actor.
"I never thought he would do something like that [kill himself]," she says, claiming that Salling started to express unusual bouts of anger during his final years. "I didn't think he would follow through."
disturbing photographs of his suicide scene where he allegedly hanged himself. The area, on the boarder of Angeles National Forest, was surrounded by tons of trash and was known to be a common place for homeless people to gather and do drugs due to it's remote and isolated location, a law enforcement source told Radar.
Salling's world turned upside down in 2016 when prosecutors raided his home and found 50,000 “sadistic” and “masochistic” images of underage children – 4,000 of which were found on his laptop.
After pleading guilty to child porn charges in Dec. 2017, Salling was out on $50,000 bail and was awaiting sentencing on March 7.
If you or someone you know is in an emotional distress or suicidal, please call the Lifeline at 1-800-273-TALK (8255).
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