After nearly seven years since his passing, Lea Michele is still remembering her former love Cory Monteith. On Jan. 16, the actress took to the Showmance podcast, hosted by original cast members Kevin McHale and Jenna Ushkowitz — who played Artie Abrams and Tina Cohen-Chang, respectively. While chatting about the pilot, Lea opened up about how certain aspects of the first episode hit her differently. “The moments that made me so emotional were not anything that ever has made me emotional before about the show,” Lea revealed in the podcast episode. “One of them was when [Cory] took [Kevin] out of that port-a-potty.”
From there, Lea shared her emotional journey as she processed those memories. “There were so many moments that you see the whole arc of a character for a whole season in one moment,” she went on. “Him taking [Kevin] out of that bathroom, and you see Finn’s heart. Oh my God,” she added. As fans remember, Glee premiered over ten years ago on May 19, 2009 and quickly became a hit. The series’ stars and their raw talent were the immediate draw, along with the catchy show choir renditions of popular songs. But it was only a matter of a few short years before Cory and Lea took their onscreen romance as Finn and Rachel to real life. The duo reportedly began dating in February 2012 and remained together until Cory’s tragic and untimely death in July 2013.
Cory was found unresponsive at the Fairmont Pacific Rim hotel in Vancouver on July 13, 2013, after suffering an accidental overdose. Every day since his passing, Lea has remained steadfast through her annual memorials of her former love. In 2019, Lea shared an image to social media of a stunning sky-scape. “The light always remains,” she lovingly captioned the image.
