Lea Michele Talks About How She Dealt with Cory Monteith's Passing

Lea Michele shared about how she dealt with her former co-star and boyfriend Cory Monteith’s passing while performing the first show on her tour in Washington, DC, on July 20.

The 35-year-old singer and actress revealed that one of the ways she dealt with Cory‘s passing was by not watching the Glee tribute episode. “I think if I don’t watch it, it just kind of feels like Finn is still there,” Michele said while on stage last week. “So this [song, 'Make You Feel My Love'] is really special.”

“I don’t even remember what I was listening to at the time. Like, nothing. I was just in such a hole… I’m grateful that he asked me. Because it needed to be something that felt real for me,” she said of creator Ryan Murphy asking her about what song to sing in the tribute episode. In the episode, she sings Bob Dylan‘s “Make You Feel My Love.” “I would film it, and then I would run off, and then I would come back. And it was wild and hard, but we healed together, and this song helped.”

Cory tragically passed away on July 13, 2013, of a drug overdose just months after he was released from a rehab center

On Instagram, Lea recently honored Cory on the 9th anniversary of his passing.