Glee star Lea Michele talks for the first time about losing Cory and upcoming tribute ep
Lea Michele describes the upcoming Glee tribute episode to Finn Hudson, played by her late boyfriend and co-star Cory Monteith, as “perfect”.
On the eve of the American premiere of the episode, the 27-year-old actress adds, “I haven’t seen it yet, but we did it because it was something we all needed to do together.”
In one of her first interviews since Cory’s tragic death - flanked by cast mates Matthew Morrison and Jane Lynch, as well as Glee creator Ryan Murphy - Lea stoically describes the period after the 31-year-old’s passing, when she was faced with the choice to go back to work or quit.
“I feel like, for me personally, I’ve lost two people: Cory and Finn,” she tells TV WEEK Australia.
“We had a beautiful memorial for Cory in the auditorium and some of the cast members sang and people spoke about him. It only felt right that we would do the same thing for Finn, so I felt it was very therapeutic.”
Asked if she ever considered quitting the show, Lea responds, “Everyone is asking: ‘Is it hard to do this? Is it hard to be back at work?’, but the truth is it’s no harder at work than it is in life so we might as well all be together as a family supporting each other to get through this together.”
The episode, called The Quarterback, takes place a few weeks after Finn’s funeral (his death is never explained on the show) and the glee club have gathered to farewell him in the only way they know how, in song.
Naya Rivera (Santana) sings “If I Die Young”, Chord Overstreet (Sam) and Kevin McHale (Artie) sing “Fire And Rain”, while Mark Salling (Puck) performs “No Surrender”. This is all before Rachel Berry, played by Lea, makes an appearance to tearfully croon Bob Dylan single, “Make You Feel My Love”.
Matthew, the actor behind Mr Schue, says Lea’s bravery inspired the cast on set.
Cory died on July 13 of an alcohol and drug overdose while visiting his home-country of Canada during Glee’s hiatus.
“She had one of the first songs we filmed for the episode and she did it so beautifully and after, she said something like, ‘It can’t be harder for anyone else than it was for me,’” he tells the magazine.
“So, we knew we had to show up because our leader stepped forward and kind of gave permission to all of us to do it. I don’t think we could have done it without her.”
In a more playful moment during our interview, Lea also reveals that art imitated life in a scene where Rachel presents the glee club with a plaque of Finn.
“One day I came home and Cory was there with this plaque from the set that we always had in the glee club and I said, ‘What’s this doing here?’ and he said, ‘I took it!’” she grins as she talks about the notorious practical joker. “He said, ‘This summer we are going to take it all over everywhere we go and take pictures of us with this plaque!’ and that’s what we did! Then I got the script and thought it was so unbelievable that they chose to do that in the episode. So, for me, there are a lot of little things that are so special, everything means a lot to me.”
When asked what she’d like fans to remember about Cory, Lea looks heartfelt as she responds, “I really woke up every single day feeling like I was being in some sort of spell or something, that I was lucky enough to have him in my life. I feel like what happened with Cory (the cause of his death) was this big,” she says, holding her fingers together to reflect a miniscule amount in the scheme of who he was and his life.
“There was no greater man than Cory, so for the time we spent together I consider myself very lucky.”
tv week
On the eve of the American premiere of the episode, the 27-year-old actress adds, “I haven’t seen it yet, but we did it because it was something we all needed to do together.”
In one of her first interviews since Cory’s tragic death - flanked by cast mates Matthew Morrison and Jane Lynch, as well as Glee creator Ryan Murphy - Lea stoically describes the period after the 31-year-old’s passing, when she was faced with the choice to go back to work or quit.
“I feel like, for me personally, I’ve lost two people: Cory and Finn,” she tells TV WEEK Australia.
“We had a beautiful memorial for Cory in the auditorium and some of the cast members sang and people spoke about him. It only felt right that we would do the same thing for Finn, so I felt it was very therapeutic.”
Asked if she ever considered quitting the show, Lea responds, “Everyone is asking: ‘Is it hard to do this? Is it hard to be back at work?’, but the truth is it’s no harder at work than it is in life so we might as well all be together as a family supporting each other to get through this together.”
The episode, called The Quarterback, takes place a few weeks after Finn’s funeral (his death is never explained on the show) and the glee club have gathered to farewell him in the only way they know how, in song.
Naya Rivera (Santana) sings “If I Die Young”, Chord Overstreet (Sam) and Kevin McHale (Artie) sing “Fire And Rain”, while Mark Salling (Puck) performs “No Surrender”. This is all before Rachel Berry, played by Lea, makes an appearance to tearfully croon Bob Dylan single, “Make You Feel My Love”.
Matthew, the actor behind Mr Schue, says Lea’s bravery inspired the cast on set.
Cory died on July 13 of an alcohol and drug overdose while visiting his home-country of Canada during Glee’s hiatus.
“She had one of the first songs we filmed for the episode and she did it so beautifully and after, she said something like, ‘It can’t be harder for anyone else than it was for me,’” he tells the magazine.
“So, we knew we had to show up because our leader stepped forward and kind of gave permission to all of us to do it. I don’t think we could have done it without her.”
In a more playful moment during our interview, Lea also reveals that art imitated life in a scene where Rachel presents the glee club with a plaque of Finn.
“One day I came home and Cory was there with this plaque from the set that we always had in the glee club and I said, ‘What’s this doing here?’ and he said, ‘I took it!’” she grins as she talks about the notorious practical joker. “He said, ‘This summer we are going to take it all over everywhere we go and take pictures of us with this plaque!’ and that’s what we did! Then I got the script and thought it was so unbelievable that they chose to do that in the episode. So, for me, there are a lot of little things that are so special, everything means a lot to me.”
When asked what she’d like fans to remember about Cory, Lea looks heartfelt as she responds, “I really woke up every single day feeling like I was being in some sort of spell or something, that I was lucky enough to have him in my life. I feel like what happened with Cory (the cause of his death) was this big,” she says, holding her fingers together to reflect a miniscule amount in the scheme of who he was and his life.
“There was no greater man than Cory, so for the time we spent together I consider myself very lucky.”
tv week