Lea Michele: ‘I’ve Lost Two People,’ Cory Monteith & Finn Hudson

So sad! After losing boyfriend and co-star Cory Monteith, Lea admitted that it was like losing two people, in her first interview since the death. It's been nearly three months since the tragic loss of Cory Monteith, and his girlfriend on and off-screen Lea Michele has been working through the pain, leaning on her Glee castmates, and fondly remembering her late boyfriend for all the cute and funny things he did, and the wonderful man he was.

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Lea Michele Feels Like She’s Lost Two People After Cory Monteith’s Death

“For me personally, I’ve lost two people: Cory and Finn,” Lea, 27, told TV Week Australia in a new interview. “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.”

Cory passed away on July 14 at 31, after a mixture of heroin and alcohol. Since, Lea has been trying to focus on the positive, remembering the good times, and feeling lucky she got to know Cory.

“I woke up every single day feeling like I was in some sort of spell or something, that I was lucky enough to have him in my life,” Lea said about Cory. “There was no greater man than Cory, so for the time we spent together, I consider myself very lucky.”

Lea Hasn’t Watched The Tribute Episode To Cory

After Cory’s passing, many were unsure if Lea would return to set, where she had tons of memories with Cory, but she revealed that the Glee family all leaned on one another during the tough time.

“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,” Lea said. “So we might as well all be together as a family supporting each other to get through this together.”

On Oct. 10, Glee will pay tribute to Cory in an emotional episode, entitled “The Quarterback,” which Lea referred to as a “perfect” episode.

“I haven’t seen it yet, but we did it because it was something we all needed to do together,” Lea said about the episode. HollywoodLife.com learned exclusively that Lea has no plan to watch the episode, as it will be too tough to relive.

Lea Smiles Again, Remembers Cory’s Sense Of Humor

In the tribute episode, a plaque is put up on the wall of the choir room in Cory’s memory, and for Lea, that sparked a sweet, happy memory.

“One day I came home and Cory was there with this plaque from the set that we always had in the glee club and I said, ‘What’s this doing here?’ and he said, ‘I took it!,” she told the magazine with a huge smile on her face. “He said, ‘This summer we are going to take it all over everywhere we go and take pictures of us with this plaque!’ and that’s what we did! Then I got the script and thought it was so unbelievable that they chose to do that in the episode. So, for me, there are a lot of little things that are so special, everything means a lot to me.”

Aww! So sweet. It’s so nice that Lea can look back at her time with Cory and smile.

WATCH: Lea Michele Cries For Cory Monteith At Teen Choice Awards 2013

— Emily Longeretta

More Lea Michele & Cory Monteith News:

  1. ‘Glee’: Lea Michele’s Heartbreaking Ballad For Cory Monteith — Listen
  2. Ryan Murphy: Cory Monteith ‘Glee’ Tribute Had Cast & Crew ‘Sobbing’
  3. Lea Michele’s Happy Night Out After Losing Cory Monteith