With the sad news of Cory Monteith’s untimely death, HELLO! Online looks back at the love story between Glee stars Cory and his girlfriend Lea Michele.The couple first met on the set of series musical-drama Glee in May 2009. Fresh faced Lea arrived hot off the Broadway stage. Cory, however, had never sung professionally before.The young, talented Canadian actor became a superstar as the high school star quarterback, Finn Hudson. Lea played the show's female lead, Rachel Berry.
Rumours began circulating in early 2010 that Cory and Lea were an item but both sides strongly denied any off-screen romance.Even so, Glee creator, Ryan Murphy recalls they had “a sort of chemistry that you can't fake.”By June 2012 Cory and Michele confirmed that they were in a relationship, following Lea’s split with Broadway actor Theo Stockman in September 2011.It was official. Co-star Jane Lynch was one of the first to show her support for the newly announced couple at the time, "I love them both...And I'm glad they're happy," she said.
The couple quickly became virtually inseparable, taking holidays together and appearing at public events as a couple. "I don’t even remember a time when he wasn’t my boyfriend. No one knows me better than Cory," Lea told Marie Claire in January 2012."He makes me feel like I can do anything. For the first time in my life, I feel really, really settled and happy. I feel like the luckiest girl in the world. "In spite of their apparently blissful relationship, it emerged Cory had voluntarily admitted himself to a rehabilitation centre for drug addiction in April this year.Cory had a disrupted upbringing that saw him attend 16 different schools and in trouble with police. He first went to rehab aged 19 after his family staged an intervention.“I love and support Cory and will stand by him through this. I am grateful and proud he made this decision,” Lea released in a statement at the time.
By the end of April 2013, Cory had completed his stay in rehab and was said to be on the mend.
The couple were last seen together in public on 8 June in Los Angeles, California.