Lea Michele Makes Tearful Tribute To Cory Monteith At Teen Choice Awards [Video]

Lea Michele has remained mostly invisible from the world since the tragic passing of Cory Monteith, but on Sunday (11 August) the actress finally made her public return by attending the Teen Choice Awards at the Gibson Amphitheatre in Universal City, California. The actress was awarded the gong for Best Actress in a comedy series for her role as Rachel Berry on Fox's hit show, and gave a teary tribute to her recently deceased boyfriend in place of a thank you speech.

Lea has remained mostly silent since the passing of Cory in July

"I just wanted to be here today to personally thank all of you and tell everyone out there how much all of your love and support has meant to me over these very difficult few weeks," an heartfelt Michele told the crowd (reprinted by The Hollywood Reporter). "I wanted to dedicate this award to Cory. For all of you out there who loved and admired Cory as much as I did, I promise that with your love we're gonna get through this together. He was very special to me and also to the world. And we were very lucky to witness his incredible talent, handsome smile and his beautiful, beautiful heart. So whether you knew him personally or just as Finn Hudson, Cory reached out and became a part of all of our hearts, and that's where he'll stay forever."

Although she was arguably the closest to him, Michele wasn't the only star to address the passing of Monteith at the awards show. Amber Riley, who plays Mercedes on Glee, discussed her co-star's unfortunate death when accepting the award for Best Comedy series, saying, "Although we lost someone that we really love and that you guys love, too, we are very fortunate to come back to a show where we feel the love of family, and Cory was like a brother to us."

Michele was recently spotted attending Jamie-Lynn Sigler's baby shower

Michele and the rest of her Glee cast mates are currently filming the finishing touches to the fifth season of Ryan Murphy's show and a special tribute has already been organised to address Monteith's passing. The hit high school-set musical comedy will return to Fox in late September, with the third episode of the coming season addressing Monteith's death and the issues that surrounded his untimely passing.

Cory's tribute episode will air in October