Lea Michele Honors Late ‘Glee’ Co-Star Cory Monteith on 10th Anniversary of His Death

Lea Michele is paying tribute to her late love Cory Monteith a decade after his tragic death at just 31. The Broadway star shared a throwback photo Thursday with her former Glee co-star, whom she dated from 2012 until his death a year later after meeting and falling in love on the set of the Fox show. “Hey you. 10 years,” Michele began her message addressed to Monteith.

“It feels like only yesterday that you were here and yet a million years ago all at the same time. I hold all of our memories in my heart where they will stay safe and never forgotten,” the 36-year-old actress continued. “We miss you every day and will never forget the light you to brought to us all. I miss you big guy.” Michele added as a reference to late Foo Fighters drummer Taylor Hawkins, who died unexpectedly in March 2022 at 50, “I hope you found Taylor up there and are playing the drums together.” 

Monteith was found dead on July 13, 2013, in a Vancouver hotel, having died as the result of mixing heroin and alcohol. “We are so saddened to confirm that the reports on the death of Cory Monteith are accurate,” his rep said in a statement at the time. “We are in shock and mourning this tragic loss.” Monteith’s mother, Ann McGregor, told PEOPLE that it was Michele who broke the news to her. “I got a call from Lea and she was screaming on the phone,” she recalled. “She was yelling, ‘Is it true, is it true about Cory?’ and I said, ‘What about Cory?’ I had heard nothing. And then police knocked on my front door.”

Less than three months later, Glee said goodbye to both Monteith and his character Finn in the emotional Season 5 episode “The Quarterback.” In 2016, Michele paid tribute to Monteith with a tattoo of his character’s football jersey number, captioning a photo of it on social media, “For my Quarterback … #5.” In 2019, she added another tribute tattoo, debuting the word “Finn” tattooed on her thigh on Instagram.