Dianna Agron Says Late 'Glee' Co-Stars Cory Monteith, Mark Salling & Naya Rivera 'Feel So Present'

Dianna Agron opened up about her three late co-stars Cory Monteith, Naya Rivera and Mark Salling this week, saying their deaths are still hard for her to grasp

Speaking on Wednesday's "And That's What You REALLY Missed" podcast episode, Agron, 39, said, “It’s hard to think of our loved ones from the show not being present with us anymore because they feel so present in my heart, body, mind, soul — all of it."

She went on, “I think that tenderness I feel and the memories that I have of who Cory, Naya and Mark were as people, as cast members, as our friends and family [are] just so vivid.”

Agron admitted that feeling "will never dissipate" for her.

Still, there is a positive side to grief, she believes. "I think there’s beauty in that. I could replay memory after memory after memory.”

Agron appeared on "Glee" from 2009-2015 with Rivera, who drowned at 33 in 2020, and Salling, who took his own life at 35 in 2018, weeks before being sentenced to prison for possessing child pornography.

Monteith acted with her on the show until his 2013 drug-overdose death.

Agron had high praise for Monteith, who she described as a "teddy bear" and "tall, big-brotherly presence" in the cast's lives.

“I remember this one time that he was having people swim in his backyard,” Agron went on. “My brother had come down and [Cory] said, ‘Oh, you’re squinting a lot. Do you not have a pair of sunglasses?’ He was like, ‘Oh, no, I don’t,’ and [Cory] took him into his room. He’s, like, ‘These are all my sunglasses. Just take a pair’… That’s who he was, always."

She ended her reminiscence of Monteith by admitting it had given her goosebumps.