Lea Michele and Cory Monteith's relationship ended in tragedy at Monteith's passing,
but what was it that made their relationship so special? How did
Lea mourn the heartbreaking loss? Keep watching to find out more.
Lea Michele and Cory Monteith officially went public with their romance in August 2012 when
they made their red carpet debut at that year's Do Something Awards, but it was actually quite
a while before that when they started dating for the first time. Michele admitted to Elle in 2013
that she and Monteith actually first got into something romantic when "Glee" began in 2009,
but kept their relationship and subsequent breakup a secret. So much a secret that the
two actually flat out denied the romance rumors and they also dated other people,
as Michele actually started seeing Theo Stockman around the same time.
She was asked during a joint 2010 Teen Vogue interview if
Stockman ever got jealous of her on-screen chemistry with Monteith,
who for what it's worth, said he was single. Michele revealed of their close relationship,
"We're such good friends that we've passed that level of weirdness. Cory farts in front of me."
As for the big reunion two years later,
Michele told Elle that they just both knew it was time to give things a proper go, saying,
"One day we just looked at each other and we were like, 'You wanna do this?' We knew."
While Lea Michele is a little more open about her life behind closed doors,
Cory Monteith always wanted to keep their relationship more private. Michele opened up
about her boyfriend's desire to be a little more under the radar on "The Ellen DeGeneres Show"
around five months after his death. She recalled how much it meant to her to
have him speak about their romance on the show a year earlier, telling DeGeneres,
"It's one of my favorite memories. I remember when he came home that night,
he kind of puffed out his chest and was like,
'I talked about you on 'Ellen' today.' I was so happy. He was such a private person."
Monteith previously opened up about his desire to keep his private life
just that in his 2010 Teen Vogue joint interview with Michele, admitting,
"I stay private about that stuff. I don't want to be like, 'I'm seeing this girl...'"
Michele interjected at this point, saying,
"And then we'd be like, 'What happened to that sweet girl?'"
During her 2013 appearance on "The Ellen DeGeneres Show,"
Lea opened up for one of the first times in detail about Cory's passing.
Michele shared sweet insights into their life together with the comedian, telling her,
"I woke up every single day feeling like I was in some sort of spell or something,
that I was lucky enough to have him in my life. There was no greater man than Cory,
so for the time we spent together, I consider myself very lucky."
The Broadway actor also had nothing but sweet things to say about her late boyfriend to Elle
in 2013, admitting she had heart eyes from the first time she crossed paths with him. She said,
"From the minute I met Cory, I was like,
'This is the most handsome man I've ever seen in my whole life,'"
Michele shared a sweet sentiment in memory of her man to Seventeen in 2014, too, saying,
"I only have happy memories of Cory. He was not his addiction — unfortunately,
it won. But that wasn't who he was. Cory made me feel like a queen every
day. From the minute he said, 'I'm your boyfriend,' I loved every day,
and I thank him for being the best boyfriend and making me feel so beautiful."
Lea Michele stood by Cory Monteith's side through thick and thin. Monteith entered
treatment in 2013 after sharing with Parade that he was addicted to drugs in his youth.
His rep confirmed to People that the "Glee" star had gone into treatment for his addiction.
Michele issued her own statement about her boyfriend's rehab stint, telling People,
"I love and support Cory and will stand by him
through this. I am grateful and proud he made this decision."
In the days after Monteith's death, "Glee" producer Ryan Murphy confirmed
to The Hollywood Reporter that Monteith was urged to enter treatment following
an emergency intervention by the cast and crew on the show, likely including Michele.
"Hey, you doing all right?"
"Um, no,"
Speaking to Elle in 2013 about her late boyfriend's struggle with drug addiction,
Michele shared,
"I can only imagine what it looks like from the outside… but there are so many
personal aspects of this whole journey that people are not invited to know."
She added that she had been worried about him after finding out that he
had begun using substances again, noting,
"Who wouldn't be worried?"
Lea Michele has multiple tattoos in honor of Cory Monteith, including an inking she got
with the actor before his tragic death. During a 2013 interview with "Extra's" Terri Seymour,
Michele admitted she told a little white lie the year prior when Seymour had asked
her before if she and Monteith got matching tats. She confirmed they did in fact head to the tattoo
parlor together, but didn't go into detail about the tattoos or what they are, though she has been
a little more forthcoming about the tattoos she's gotten for Monteith in the wake of his death.
One of Michele's most notable is the word "Finn" on her upper thigh,
which was the name of Monteith's character in "Glee." As Vanity Fair noted,
fans initially saw her character Rachel Berry get the same ink on
the show while Michele showed off the permanent version on Instagram in 2019.
In another "Glee"-related symbol, Michele also has the number five tattooed on her skin,
the number of Monteith's character Finn's football jersey on "Glee." The star debuted
that one on Instagram in April 2016, posting a black and white photo of the inking.
It's not just tattoos that help Lea Michele to remember Cory Monteith, as the star also
has multiple songs directly inspired by the late actor or that remind her of him.
One of the first the star released was the heartbreaking ballad "If You Say So" from her
2014 album "Louder," which shares in detail the grief she experienced in the wake of his death,
though he actually helped her put it together before he passed.
"I would come home and we would go into our car, 'cuz it had the best sound system and we
would listen and we would like take notes and he really helped me with the record."
Speaking to Billboard in 2014, Michele shared that the song was, quote,
"therapeutic and difficult" for her to listen to.
That album also features a song called "You're Mine," which Michele
admitted reminds her of her late boyfriend, telling Elle in 2013,
"It makes me so happy, this song. It makes me think so much of Cory. It was
ours. When I think of him, I play this."
Michele co-wrote another song for Monteith on her second album,
2017's "Places," titled "Hey You." Speaking to Pride Source that year, Michele admitted she
didn't initially plan to put the song on the album because it was so personal, explaining,
"It's sort of a sensitive subject for me that's hard to talk about, and I didn't
want anything on the record that I couldn't talk about. But it just felt so beautiful."
Lea Michele has been pretty open about the fact that she thought she was going
to marry Cory Monteith before his death. The star got very candid about the future
they'd planned out in a 2014 interview with Glamour, heartbreakingly admitting
that they'd very much discussed spending the rest of their lives together. She said,
"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."
It seems Monteith was open with his family about his desire to
have children and settle down, with his mom telling People in 2018,
"Cory wanted a wife and kids. He would have made a beautiful father. He had accomplished
so much. He was ready to step out of Hollywood and really live. He had so much to look forward to."
In a fate that many couples in Hollywood face,
Lea Michele and Cory Monteith weren't exempt from allegations their relationship was a
publicity stunt when the gossip columns first began to speculate that they were dating.
Many fans and blogs suggested the two could have been peddling rumors to promote "Glee."
Others shared their unfounded two thoughts on social media,
with several tweets suggesting their romance was a stunt.
However, the two made it pretty clear their romance was very much the real deal with Michele
constantly gushing about Monteith in interviews, while they also had former E! News correspondent
Marc Malkin on their side. Malkin confirmed the two were very much an item, telling Marie Claire,
"Yes, Lea Michele and Cory Monteith are definitely dating. I saw them this weekend,
they were definitely a couple. If for some reason this is fake and it's a PR stunt,
they are doing a great job."
When Cory Monteith and Lea Michele went public with their romance, one of the couple's fellow
"Glee" stars claimed that the actor began changing. Naya Rivera, who played Santana
Lopez on the Fox hit, wrote about their romance in her book, "Sorry Not Sorry: Dreams, Mistakes,
and Growing Up." In the memoir, Rivera also opened up about her infamous drama with Michele, writing,
"The more serious they got, the less Cory hung out with us,
and the more he seemed like a different person. My personal feelings for Lea aside, I knew that she
wasn't a partier, so I felt like maybe their relationship could actually be good for him.
I was happy for Cory to have a stable influence in his life, wherever it was that he found it."
In a tragic twist of fate, Rivera was found dead on July 13, 2020, the seventh anniversary
of Monteith's passing. Rivera drowned after taking a pontoon out with her son days before.
Lea Michele has made no secret of her grief in the wake of Cory Monteith's tragic death and
continues to pay tribute to him every year, even after moving on and finding love with Zandy Reich.
Michele's first annual tribute came in July 2014 when Michele shared a selfie
Monteith took of them cuddling at the beach as she nuzzled her head into his
shoulder. She followed that up the next year, by posting a snap of him driving on Instagram,
In 2020, things became even more heartbreaking in the wake of her
other former "Glee" co-star Naya Rivera being found on the seventh anniversary
of Monteith's death. The star shared that she was thinking about her late boyfriend
and friend by posting black and white photos of the two to her Instagram Story.
In one of the most heartbreaking moments from Lea Michele and Cory Monteith's years-long
relationship, it was actually Michele who told Monteith's mom, Ann McGregor, that her son had
died. McGregor had not yet been informed about the tragic accident when Michele called her
after hearing the news. McGregor recounted the series of events to People in 2018, saying,
"I got a call from Lea and she was screaming on the phone. She was yelling, 'Is it true,
is it true about Cory?' and I said, 'What about Cory?' I had heard nothing.
And then police knocked on my front door." As for whether or not Michele still keeps
in touch with Monteith's family today, we're not so sure, but the two did stay in contact
for at least a little while in the wake of the actor's death. McGregor shared during a 2014
appearance on "Good Morning America" that she and Michele would correspond every once in a while,
adding that they were there for one another following such an unimaginable loss.
"Do you keep in touch with Lea?"
"I do. She texts me and emails me. She's - She's hurting, too. I mean,
you see the sadness. I know her pain."
Michele has since gone on to find love again and start a family of her own.
She married Zandy Reich in 2019 and they welcomed their first son, Ever, in 2020.
If you or anyone you know is struggling with addiction issues,
help is available. Visit the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration website
or contact SAMHSA's National Helpline at 1-800-662-HELP (4357).