Lea Michele'sGleeCostars Recall Her 'Strength' on Set After Cory Monteith's Death: 'Heartbreaking on So Many Levels'

Mar. 15, 2025

Lea Michele in ‘Glee’.Photo:FOX

FOX

GleealumniKevin McHaleandJenna Ushkowitzare looking back at the “strength” costarLea Micheleshowed while filming the show’s first episode followingCory Monteith’s shocking deathin 2013.

As McHale and Ushkowitz noted on the latest episode of their rewatch podcastAnd That’s What You Really Missed, the31-year-old Monteith’s deathin July 2013 delayed the start of production onGlee’s fifth season. When the cast and crew reconvened that August to begin filming the first of twoBeatles-centric episodes, they “were all very much in the early stages of grieving,” according to McHale, 36.

Lea Michele and Cory Monteith in a 2012 episode of ‘Glee’.FOX

“I do not know how she did any of this,” McHale said. “She’s still the main character in this show and is very much, like, the main character in this episode.”

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McHale described Michele’s performance of the Beatles’ “Yesterday” in the episode as “heartbreaking on so many levels.”

Both hosts recalled the show’s cast and crew “circling the wagons” and allowing each other to experience whatever emotions came up during filming.

The cast of ‘Glee’ in the season 5 opener “Love, Love, Love”.FOX

“There was a mutual understanding, like, if anybody was in a mood on a certain day, everything was fine. Everything was allowed. Everything was acceptable. And it was just sort of like, ‘Do what you have to do to get through,’ ” McHale said.

At the same time, McHale noted that Michele’s New York-set storyline meant that she wasn’t sharing scenes with many of her long-time castmates.

“In this episode, there are a lot of people, like background actors, a lot of guest stars,” he explained. “There’s a lot of people that were not close to us. And it obviously was a very big deal publicly when Cory passed away. And the amount of media attention that Lea had gotten through that was unbelievable in, like, a sort of, like, horrible way.”

Lea Michele and Cory Monteith at the 2012 Do Something Awards.Christopher Polk/Getty

Christopher Polk/Getty

“I just couldn’t stop thinking about, like, the amount of energy it probably took to sort of, like, show up and protect yourself from probably people, like, staring at you wondering ‘How is she doing?’ And, there’s so many scenes like that in this episode,” McHale continued.

Ushkowitz perhaps summed it up best: “What a strange time for her.”

source: people.com