Skip To Content
JEWISH. INDEPENDENT. NONPROFIT.
The Schmooze

Lea Michele’s ‘Glee’ Heartbreak Over Cory Monteith

Cory Monteith and Lea Michele Image by Getty Images

On the eve of “Glee“‘s tribute to Finn Hudson, played by the late Cory Monteith, girlfriend Lea Michele has opened up in her first interview since his death.

“I feel like, for me personally, I’ve lost two people: Cory and Finn,” she told TV WEEK Australia. “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 said, indicating a tiny amount “in the scheme of who he was and his life.”

The episode, called “The Quarterback,” shows the glee club gathering to remember their fallen friend (though his death is never explained) in the only way they know how. For those who don’t watch “Glee,” that means in song.

“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,” Michele said.

Fans were worried that Monteith’s death would result in Michele, who plays Finn’s on-screen girlfriend Rachel Berry, leaving the show. But the Jewish actress soon laid those fears to rest, and took the lead in pushing for the show’s return: “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.”

“There was no greater man than Cory, so for the time we spent together I consider myself very lucky,” she added.

Monteith, 31, died of an accidental overdose of heroin and alcohol on July 13. The “Glee” tribute episode for Finn Hudson, will air Oct. 10 at 9 p.m. ET on FOX.

A message from our CEO & publisher 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.

At a time when other newsrooms are closing or cutting back, the Forward has removed its paywall and invested additional resources to report on the ground from Israel and around the U.S. on the impact of the war, rising antisemitism and polarized discourse..

Readers like you make it all possible. Support our work by becoming a Forward Member and connect with our journalism and your community.

—  Rachel Fishman Feddersen, Publisher and CEO

Join our mission to tell the Jewish story fully and fairly.

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.