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Lea Michele Pays Tribute to Cory Monteith on 10th Anniversary of His Death: ‘Miss You Big Guy’
Lea Michele paid tribute to her former boyfriend and Glee costar Cory Monteith on the 10th anniversary of his death.
“Hey you. 10 years,” Lea, 36, wrote via Instagram on Thursday, July 13, alongside a photo of the pair. “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.”
She continued, “We miss you every day and will never forget the light you brought to us all. I miss you big guy.”
“I hope you found Taylor up there and are playing the drums together,” Lea concluded alongside a white heart emoji.
While the New York native did not clarify which Taylor she was referring to in the caption, she was likely paying tribute to the late Foo Fighters drummer, Taylor Hawkins, who died in March 2022 at the age of 50.
The Canada native was also a drummer and regularly played the instrument on Glee.
Cory died at the age of 31 of an accidental mixed drug toxicity that involved heroin and alcohol in July 2013. He and Lea were dating at the time of his death, while they also portrayed onscreen love interests Finn Hudson and Rachel Berry on the Fox series.
Lea – who married Zandy Reich in 2019 – opened up about the plans she and Cory had for their future one year after his shocking death while speaking to Glamour UK.
“We talked about a lot of things. We talked about children and what we would look like when we grew old, and who would be fat and how we would stay thin,” she told the outlet in 2014. “We talked about where we wanted to go and what we wanted to do. We were done. We were it.”
The New Year’s Eve actress continued, “When you’re at that place in your life with someone, you talk about everything. But today I feel like I was given the best part of Cory, and I’m thankful for that.”
Lea wasn’t the only Glee star to pay tribute to Cory on the 10th anniversary of his passing.
“10 years ago today I lost one of my best friends,” Chord Overstreet, who starred on the show as Sam Evans, wrote via Instagram alongside a clip of a song dedicated to Cory. “Feels like forever ago and at the same time it feels like it was just yesterday.”
Chord, 34, continued, “I still struggle to process all of this some days, but Music has definitely helped me heal and deal with a lot of these emotions when they come up. We all miss and love you Cory.”
