Lea Michele On The Aftermath Of Cory Monteith's Death

Buzz Feed

09-05-2025

Lea Michele has opened up about the aftermath of Cory Monteith's tragic death, revealing that his passing saw her home get added to a 'Hollywood Tragedy' tour bus route in Los Angeles.
Lea first met Cory when they were both cast on the hit series Glee back in 2009, and they started dating in 2012. The two remained together until Cory's death in July 2013, with the star dying of mixed drug toxicity involving heroin and alcohol at age 31.
Lea was 26 years old at the time, and members of the Glee cast and crew previously admitted to struggling with her decision to keep filming after his death, with the show's creator essentially leaving the decision up to her.
It was previously revealed that Lea was given various options after Cory's death — including taking a hiatus and canceling the show altogether, but she opted for everybody to return to work just two weeks later.Speaking to Ellen DeGeneres in 2013, Lea recalled: 'I said: 'We have to go back to work. We have to.' They're my family,' but people interviewed in the controversial 2023 docuseries The Price of Glee said that they did not support her decision. Naya Rivera's stand-in, Jodi Tanaka, said at the time: 'It was only a couple of weeks. All of the actors had to just pull themselves together and get back to work. Everyone was just kind of forced to.'
But Lea stood by her decision during a recent appearance on the Therapuss with Jake Shane podcast, where she said of grieving Cory's death: 'Well, I was 26, no one handed me a guide book. It was a fast education on more stuff than I ever could have processed. If we didn't show up for work, then a lot of people wouldn't have work to go to, and that was a lot of pressure for me. So, I had to put my stuff aside and just show up so that everybody could continue to work.'
When asked if Cory's death made the cast closer, Lea admitted: 'No, I think it really fractured… I can't speak for everyone, in some ways, it did for certain people, but I think for me, it was so hard. I just completely broke, like, I was in a really one-track mind of just doing my job. It was way too much to try to process at such a young age, but I am very grateful for everyone there, whether or not they know it.''I personally felt a lot of support from everybody in the building helping to get me through, especially from the crew,' she went on. 'The people that would be behind the camera every day, I would be looking at the camera, but looking at the person behind it. Our incredible crew members, everyone that held a camera, sound, lighting, I was looking at those people. They were holding me up so much, as well as the people that were on the show, but a lot of people were gone, also, by then, which was hard.'
Elsewhere on the podcast, Lea offered some shocking insight into the downside of fame as she detailed how voyeuristic Cory's death became. Discussing her life before his passing, she said: 'Life was very different. I mean, I had a tour bus that would go past my house in West Hollywood, and you would hear it. I'd be in the house and it'd be like: 'Lea Michele, Rachel Berry on Glee!' And then it would be like, I would hear: 'Don't Rain On My Parade' playing while I'm sitting in my living room.'
She then remembered: 'Also, there was a tour bus that used to drive by my house — my publicist will probably want to cut this — but it was the tour of people that have died, and after everything happened, this bus would come by. It was like, 'Hollywood Tragedy' tour bus, and here I was, 26 years old, and this tour bus would go by my house, and every day I would hear, like: 'These are the details and blah blah blah blah blah,' and eerie music would be playing from the bus.'
'It was so sad, it was so, so depressing,' Lea concluded. Unsurprisingly, the star also noted that when she moved home, she was sure to stay away from the tourist area of Los Angeles, sharing: 'Fast-forward, like, four years later, I bought a house so high up in the canyon. Far, far, like, deep in Pacific Palisades, because I was like: 'I have to get out of West Hollywood.''
Needless to say, people have been left absolutely horrified by the way that Lea's personal tragedy was turned into a tourist hotspot, with one person writing on a Reddit forum: 'this is just awful. Who the fuck thought that was okay?'"What a uniquely fucked up experience,' somebody else wrote. Another added: 'like she's a circus animal. that is so fucking violating.'While one more shared: 'I have a tour that goes by my house, and you hear the same snippet of facts every time. To have those be details of the worst day of your life must be harrowing!'
What do you make of the whole thing? Let me know in the comments below.