How Lea Michele Commemorated Eighth Anniversary of Cory Monteith's Death

Lea Michele shared a thoughtful gesture to recognize the day Cory Monteith died.

The Glee actress, 34, posted an Instagram Story on Tuesday, July 13 to commemorate the eighth anniversary of Cory's passing. She posted a black and white pic of Cory waving to an audience onstage in his character Finn Hudson's varsity football jacket.

Cory tragically died on July 13, 2013 of an accidental drug overdose. He was 31 years old when he passed, and had acted in four seasons of Glee alongside Lea, who was his girlfriend at the time of his death.

Lea's latest tribute to Cory is far from her first. In 2016, the star got a tattoo of the number five in honor of Finn's football number on Glee.

She spoke about losing him and the grief that came in that aftermath on The Ellen DeGeneres Show in 2013. Lea expressed, "There is an empowerment that comes with grief—at some point you find it. It's very hard but you will find it, and I think at a certain point you can choose to sort of fall from this or you can choose to rise."

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"That's what I'm just trying to do my best for him, because I known that that's what he would have [wanted]," Lea continued.

Lea has since found love with her husband Zandy Reich. The duo got married in March 2019 in Napa, Calif. A little over a year later, in August 2020, Lea gave birth to their first child. The Glee star often shares photos of their son Ever to Instagram.

Lea, along with her Glee castmates, recently paid tribute to Naya Rivera on the one-year anniversary of her fatal drowning. Many of Naya's co-stars recognized the late actress' immeasurable talent with heartfelt social media posts.