Lea Michele has paid tribute to Cory Monteith in a heartfelt Instagram post, as today marks the 10th anniversary of his death.
Michele and Monteith worked together on the hit show Glee, as love interests. The pair were also in a real-life relationship for more than a year before Monteith died on July 13, 2013, from an overdose aged 31.
Michele’s post reads: “Hey you. 10 years. 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.
“We miss you every day and will never forget the light you to brought to us all. I miss you big guy. I hope you found Taylor up there and are playing the drums together.”
Fans of the show also added their condolences and reflected on Monteith’s life. “I’ll always remember that day. I still can’t believe it been 10 years already. I loved watching the new episodes of glee to see Cory he was my favorite and will always be. The quarterback episode hit hard and I was just watching it,” one fan said.
Another added: “I thought I had got over it until I see this photo.”
A fan who “thinks of him everyday” said, “I still remember this day 10 years ago and being frozen in place. The way the world watched and waited for you, to see you put all you had into the last two seasons of Glee, to where you are now. I don’t care what anybody says, you were his and he was yours. I’ll always him, you and the both of you together. We love you always and forever Cory!!”
Monteith had struggled with substance-abuse issues from the age of 13, which led to his mother staging an intervention when he was 19. One month before his death, the Glee star had checked into a rehabilitation clinic to attempt to get some help.
The Canadian actor was on summer hiatus from Glee when he died, where he had played a singing quarterback since May 2009.
The coroner’s report said that Monteith was almost at the end of a seven-day holiday, when he was discovered on the floor of his room. He “was clearly deceased and resuscitation was not attempted,” the report said.
In 2013, Glee paid tribute to Monteith and his character, in a special episode titled The Quarterback. It aired in October 2013 and, throughout the episode, it was emphasised that it didn’t matter how Finn died, but how he lived. Michele did a heartbreaking cover of Make You Feel My Love, by Bob Dylan.
