Lea Michele is speaking out after the July death of her boyfriend and Glee co-star Cory Monteith. The tribute episode will air on Thursday, featuring the cast honoring Monteith and his character Finn Hudson through song.
Michele, 27, who plays Rachel Berry, said she never considered quitting the show and prefers to have the support system of her cast while they go through this difficult time together.
She told TV Week Australia, “I feel like, for me personally, I’ve lost two people: Cory and Finn.”
Michele also called the tribute episode they shot “very therapeutic” and “perfect.” She sings a Bob Dylan cover of “Make You Feel My Love” in the upcoming episode called The Quarterback.
“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,” she continued, EW reports.
Co-star Matthew Morrison also opened up about it, saying Michele’s song gave the rest of the cast strength to sing. “She had one of the first songs we filmed for the [tribute] 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 explained. “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.”
image: FOX