Lea Michele pays tribute to Cory Monteith and Naya Rivera

Lea Michele has honoured her Glee co-stars Cory Monteith and Naya Rivera, after Rivera’s body was found on the anniversary of Monteith’s death.

Rivera’s body was recovered from Lake Piru on Monday, five days after the 33-year-old was reported missing following a boat ride with her four-year-old son. Monteith died of a drug overdose on the same date in 2013.

Michele chose to pay her respects by posting black and white photographs of both Monteith and Rivera on her Instagram story.

The 33-year-old’s tribute comes just days after she was deleted her Twitter account, following a barrage of criticism from trolls for not publicly commenting on Rivera’s disappearance.

A number of Rivera’s former co-stars have since paid their respects to the star, who played Santana Lopez in the musical comedy series.

In a show of solidarity, former colleagues including Heather Morris, Amber Riley, Chris Colfer and Kevin McHale joined together, and were pictured holding hands and looking across Lake Piru when it was announced at 9am local time yesterday that a body had been recovered.

Jane Lynch, who played fearsome gym coach Sue Sylvester in Glee, paid tribute on Twitter, writing: “Rest sweet, Naya. What a force you were. Love and peace to your family.”

Colfer, who played Kurt Hummel in the series, wrote on Instagram: “How can you summarise a decade of friendship and laughter with words alone? If you were friends with Naya Rivera, you simply can’t.

“She spoke truth to power with poise and fearlessness. She could turn a bad day into a great day with a single remark. She inspired and uplifted people without trying.

“Being close to her was both a badge of honour and a suit of armour. Naya was truly one of a kind, and she always will be."