Skip To Content
JEWISH. INDEPENDENT. NONPROFIT.
The Schmooze

Lea Michele’s Tearful Tribute to Cory

During her first major public appearance since the death of boyfriend Cory Monteith, Lea Michele used her acceptance speech at the Teen Choice Awards to thank fans for being so supportive of her in this difficult time.

Wearing a necklace that spelled out the actor’s name, Michele fought back tears as she accepted the award for Choice TV Actress — Comedy.

“I wanted to dedicate this award to Cory,” she said. “For all of you out there who loved and admired Cory as much as I did, I promise that, with your love, we’re going to 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, his handsome smile, and his beautiful, beautiful heart,” she added. “So whether you knew him personally or just as Finn Hudson, Cory reached out and he became a part of all of our hearts — and that’s where he’ll stay forever, so thank you guys so much.”

Prior to the speech, the whole “Glee” cast came onstage to accept the Choice Comedy award, and paid their own tribute to their departed co-star.

The fifth season of “Glee” premieres on Fox on Thursday, September 26. A tribute to Monteith is planned for the third episode.

Watch the emotional speech below:

A message from our Publisher & CEO Rachel Fishman Feddersen

I hope you appreciated this article. Before you go, I’d like to ask you to please support the Forward’s award-winning, nonprofit journalism during this critical time.

We’ve set a goal to raise $260,000 by December 31. That’s an ambitious goal, but one that will give us the resources we need to invest in the high quality news, opinion, analysis and cultural coverage that isn’t available anywhere else.

If you feel inspired to make an impact, now is the time to give something back. Join us as a member at your most generous level.

—  Rachel Fishman Feddersen, Publisher and CEO

With your support, we’ll be ready for whatever 2025 brings.

Republish This Story

Please read before republishing

We’re happy to make this story available to republish for free, unless it originated with JTA, Haaretz or another publication (as indicated on the article) and as long as you follow our guidelines. You must credit the Forward, retain our pixel and preserve our canonical link in Google search.  See our full guidelines for more information, and this guide for detail about canonical URLs.

To republish, copy the HTML by clicking on the yellow button to the right; it includes our tracking pixel, all paragraph styles and hyperlinks, the author byline and credit to the Forward. It does not include images; to avoid copyright violations, you must add them manually, following our guidelines. Please email us at [email protected], subject line “republish,” with any questions or to let us know what stories you’re picking up.

We don't support Internet Explorer

Please use Chrome, Safari, Firefox, or Edge to view this site.