It's been a rough and emotional couple of years for Lea Michele, but the "Glee" star is finally able to smile again, and it's all thanks to boyfriend Matthew Paetz.
In a sweet tribute, the 28-year-old actress wished her beau a happy 30th birthday via Instagram Sunday, and thanked him for "bringing such a bright joy" and happiness into her life. In the photo, Michele is seen beaming as Paetz plants a kiss on her cheek.
"Matthew, thank you for bringing such happiness into my life. For making me smile again and bringing such a bright joy into my every day...Thank you for loving me and my family...And of course Sheila too," Michele wrote, referring to her beloved cat. "May this be the happiest Birthday ever!"
The lovely couple began dating last summer after meeting on the set of Michele's "On My Way" music video in April 2014.
"I feel like it's so important to make sure that I'm 100 percent okay before I can get into a relationship," Michele told Glamour UK in February 2014. "But people have to understand that I can't be alone forever. Cory wouldn't want that."
Paetz is Michele's first and only serious boyfriend since the death of her former "Glee" co-star and then-boyfriend Cory Monteith. Her tribute to Paetz comes one week after the actress wished Monteith, a happy birthday on May 11. Monteith would have been 33 years old.
"I know you're serenading everyone right now. We love you Cory! Happy birthday," she wrote on Twitter at the time.
Monteith was found dead in his hotel room in Vancouver on July 13, 2013, and a coroner ruled his death as an overdose on a mix of drugs, including heroin and alcohol.
"I only have happy memories of Cory. He was not his addiction-unfortunately, it won. But that wasn't who he was," she told Seventeen Magazine in 2014. "Cory made me feel like a queen every day," the actress said. "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."
