10th anniversary of Cory Monteith’s death honored by Lea Michele, other ‘Glee’ co-stars

On the 10th anniversary of Cory Monteith’s death, Lea Michele and a few of his other “Glee” co-stars are paying tribute to the actor who died by overdose at the age of 31.

“Hey you. 10 years. It feels like only yesterday that you were here and yet a million years ago all at the same time,” the “Funny Girl” actress shared on social media Thursday.

“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.”

Michele and Monteith met and fell for each other as the lead stars on the set of Ryan Murphy’s hit musical dramedy series, “Glee,” which premiered in 2009. Despite early rumors of a romance, the duo didn’t go public with their relationship until 2012. Not long after, sources began saying the couple had already been talking about marriage.

Tragically, on July 13, 2013, Monteith was found dead in his Vancouver hotel room. Authorities later determined the Canada native, who suffered from a long history of addiction, died of mixed drug toxicity involving heroin and alcohol. His death was ruled accidental.

Following his passing, the “Glee” cast and crew paid tribute to the Teen Choice Award winner in an episode titled “The Quarterback,” which dealt with the death of his character, football star-turned-glee club member Finn Hudson.

In the years since, Michele has honored Monteith in other ways, including getting a tattoo in his memory.

Chord Overstreet, who played Sam Evans on the series, joined Michele on Wednesday in honoring Monteith, sharing a cute old snap of himself and his pal to his Instagram Story. Becca Tobin, who played Kitty Wilde, wrote “love you” with a heart emoji in the comments of Michele’s post.

Meanwhile, Monteith’s close friend and former roommate Justin Neill spoke about the impact he had on him during a new interview with Newsweek.

“I would say he definitely changed the direction [of] my life in several ways,” he said. “I don’t even know where I would be if I didn’t meet Cory. I owe a lot to him.”

The former actor, who was featured on the recently released docuseries “The Price of Glee” added that Monteith’s death “feels like two lifetimes ago, and sometimes it feels like yesterday.”

The three-part Discovery+ project also highlights the deaths of fellow “Glee” stars Mark Salling, who died by suicide in 2018, and Naya Rivera, who died from drowning in 2020.