Lea Michele has posted a heartbreaking tribute for her former co-star and ex-boyfriend Corey Monteith on the 10th anniversary of his death.
“It feels like only yesterday that you were here and yet a million years ago all at the same time,” Michele captioned a black-and-white photo of the pair.
“I hold all of our memories in my heart where they will stay safe and never forgotten.”
Monteith unexpectedly died at age 36 from a drug overdose. The pair played on-screen sweethearts on Glee, and dated in real life for a year from 2012 until his death.
“We miss you every day and will never forget the light you to brought to us all,” Michele continued.
Their Glee co-star Chord Overstreet shared a song to Instagram in tribute to Monteith.
“10 years ago today I lost one of my best friends,” wrote the Falling for Christmas star. “Feels like forever ago and at the same time it feels like it was just yesterday.”
Overstreet 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.”
Monteith was found dead on July 13, 2013, at Vancouver’s Fairmont Pacific Rim Hotel. It was ruled a heroin overdose; the actor had traces of alcohol, codeine and morphine also in his bloodstream.
Over the years, there has been speculation of a ‘Glee Curse’ affecting the stars of the show, which was explored in 2023 documentary The Price of Glee.
Five cast and crew members from the show have died in unexpected circumstances over the last nine years, and the Disney+ documentary explored the deaths of stars Cory Monteith, Naya Rivera and Mark Salling.
Former castmate Kevin McHale slammed the series, claiming none of the cast had anything to do with its production.
Watch the trailer for the docuseries above.
In a fiery tweet, McHale, who hosts his own Glee-focussed podcast with former co-star Jenna Ushkowitz called And That’s What You REALLY Missed, called the series “trash”.
Re-tweeting a tweet by TV journalist Ashley Ray which read, “yes cast and crew are involved [in the series], no they are not comparing Naya [Rivera] and Cory [Monteith] to Mark [Salling] or making any similarity other than to say “they were all on the same show”.”
To this, McHale wrote, “Show me this “cast” you speak of. This is [trash],” using a garbage bin emoji.
McHale, who played Artie Abrams on Glee, followed up the tweet with: “This was the nice version, [for the record]. Don’t make me speak on this again.”
https://twitter.com/druidDUDE/status/1601434596457185280?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw
Naya Rivera, Cory Monteith and Mark Salling are the three Glee cast members who died after the TV show skyrocketed them to fame.
Monteith died in 2013 after an overdose, while Salling died in 2018 by suicide – six weeks before he was due to be imprisoned for possession of child pornography.
Rivera died in 2020 after a boating trip with her then-four-year-old son.
She was believed to have been swimming with her son at Lake Piru in northwest Los Angeles when waters turned rocky. In the process of trying to save his life, she likely exhausted herself and drowned, police reported at the time.
McHale’s words about the upcoming docuseries come after a recent episode of his podcast which saw him remember Rivera, along with former Glee cast stars Heather Morris and Chris Colfer.
“It was really infuriating and also incredible to watch,” he said of Rivera’s singing and acting talent. “She was so good, just so good… it was a gift that we got to be around every single day.”
The controversial Disney+ series is slated to premiere on January 16, 2023. So far none of the former Glee cast have supported the project.
Who from Glee has died?
In the last nine years, three members of the main Glee cast have died. Cory Monteith, who played footballer Finn Hudson, died in 2013. Mark Salling, who played Noah ‘Puck’ Puckerman, died in 2018, and Naya Rivera, aka Santana Lopez, died in 2020.
Two crew members from the show have also died. Assistant director Jim Filler passed away from heart failure in 2013, and production assistant Nancy Motes died by suicide in 2014. Her colleagues reportedly posted on Facebook: “We’ve lost another one.”
How did Cory Monteith die?
On July 13, 2013, Monteith’s body was found in a hotel room in Canada. His death was ruled as a heroin overdose, with traces of alcohol, codeine and morphine also found in his bloodstream.
The actor had a history of substance abuse from the age of 13. He entered rehab at the age of 19 at the request of his family and friends. In March 2013, a few months before his death, he voluntarily went back to rehab, after an intervention was held on the Glee set. He completed his treatment on April 26.
This year, Glee co-creator Ryan Murphy revealed on the And That’s What You REALLY Missed podcast that he had been one of the cast and crew members who tried to help Monteith.
“I remember thinking like, ‘Oh my god, thank God he made it. Thank God he’s going to be okay’,” Murphy recalled of the moment Monteith completed his rehab treatment. “He came to Fire Island and he spent time with me. And I remember thinking, like, ‘Against all odds, he’s going to be okay.’
“And then two days later – three days later, he died.”
After his death, the coroner ruled his overdose an accident. Because Monteith had been clean for a few months, “a previously tolerated drug concentration level may become toxic and fatal”. He was 31 years old and had been dating Glee star Lea Michele at the time of his death.
How did Mark Salling die?
Salling died by suicide on January 30, 2018, after pleading guilty to possession of child pornography. In 2015, after a tip-off from an ex-girlfriend, the actor was arrested when police found more than 50,000 images of child pornography on his computer and hard drive. Following his trial, Salling pleaded guilty, and it was expected he would spend seven years in jail. He was found dead a month before his sentencing trial.
How did Naya Rivera die?
Rivera went missing while swimming with her son at Lake Piru, in California, on July 8 2020. Her son was found alive and well floating on a boat in the middle of the lake, with Rivera nowhere to be seen. After five days of searching, her body was recovered on July 13 — the seven year anniversary of Monteith’s death. She was 33.
Is the ‘Glee Curse’ real?
No. A source who worked on the show recently commented on the so-called curse, telling the NY Post that it’s merely just a set of unfortunate circumstances.
“I don’t know if I would say it was cursed, but it’s unfortunate for most of them. The things that have happened with some of the cast… it’s very sad.”
Cast tributes
This year, Lea Michele paid tribute to Cory Monteith on the ninth anniversary of his death. The star would have been 40 this year.
Posting to her Instagram Story, Michele, 35, shared a very subtle tribute to Monteith, posting a throwback photo from their Glee days.
The photo shared by Michele dates back to 2011, when Monteith and Michele were filming a scene for Glee in New York City.
Monteith, then 28, looks handsome in a suit and tie, while Michele beams up at him in a blue dress, holding a bouquet of flowers.
Michele dated Monteith off-screen from 2012 until he died unexpectedly on July 13, 2013, at the age of 31.
She has been married to businessman Zandy Reich since 2019, and the couple welcomed son Ever Leo in August 2020.
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