Lea Posted A Simple, But Beautiful, Tribute To Cory 8 Years After His Death
She still holds Cory dear in her heart.
July 13, 2021, marked the eighth anniversary of Cory Monteith’s passing, and Lea Michele didn’t let the day go by without paying tribute to him. On the anniversary of his death, the former Glee star took to Instagram to share the sweetest memory of her co-star and former boyfriend. Grab the tissues, because Lea Michele's Instagram tribute to Cory Monteith will put you in your feels.
Monteith’s accidental drug overdose in July 2013 rocked fans to their core. He was dating Michele at the time, and the Glee star has consistently paid tribute to him since his passing. On what would have been his 33rd birthday in May 2015, she tweeted a throwback photo of him taken on the set of Glee. "I know you're serenading everyone right now. We love you Cory! Happy Birthday,” she wrote. In 2019, she shared a quote on the anniversary of his passing. “The light always remains,” she tweeted at the time.
Now, she’s honoring him yet again. Michele marked the anniversary by posting a black-and-white photo of Monteith on her Instagram Story. In the pic, Monteith was seen standing on-stage wearing his character Finn Hudson's varsity football jacket.
Michele’s love for Monteith hasn’t waned since his passing. Not only does she consistently pay tribute to him on social media, but she inked her love for him with a tattoo in 2016. Michele got a tattoo of the number five, Monteith’s football jersey number from the show.
Michele has been candid about the experience of losing her co-star and boyfriend unexpectedly. As she told Ellen Degeneres in 2013, grief has forced her to grow.
"There is an empowerment that comes with grief—at some point you find it. It's very hard but you will find it, and I think at a certain point you can choose to sort of fall from this or you can choose to rise,” she said. "That's what I'm just trying to do my best for him, because I know that that's what he would have [wanted].”
These days, Michele is happily married to Zandy Reich, but she’ll always have room in her heart for Monteith.
