Lea Michele covers the upcoming issue of Teen Vogue. You can see some of the nature-themed photos on Teen Vogue’s website. They’re going for a very innocent, “first love” kind of theme, with white shift dresses, minimal makeup, and fresh-picked wildflowers. Lea poses with her friend and co-star, Jonathan Groff, whom she also worked with on Broadway, in Spring Awakening.
The interview is a conversation between Jonathan and Lea, who is promoting her solo music career. (Her debut album, Louder, is out on March 4th. You can watch her first video/single, Cannonball, here. I find the song very bland and overprocessed, like she’s trying to be a generic Katy Perry. Some people will like it.) Lea talks about her late boyfriend, Cory Monteith, and how supportive he was. Cory was there when Lea first started recording her album, and Lea mentions how her memory of him, and her friends and family, have helped her cope with his passing.
JG: Oh, I know! What’s your favorite song on the album?
LM: My favorite song is, 100 percent, “You’re Mine.” I listened to it the other day—it was the one song I had the most emotional reaction to, just because that’s my relationship with Cory.
JG: What was Cory’s favorite song?
LM: He was such a fan, you don’t understand. He would be like, “You’re going to be a pop star! What are we going to do? Are we going to, like, go on the road?” He would say, “This is going to be big!” And I’d be like, “I don’t know.” He heard every song and gave me his notes on everything. He loved “Battlefield.” I’m getting chills thinking about it. I would say “Burn with You” was his favorite. He came into the studio that day.
JG: I feel like the world has been compassionately watching to see how you would react to what happened. And across the board, you’ve presented yourself in such a classy way. You really are the quintessential role model. And as your friend, watching you go through what you went through, I saw you exhibit so much strength. Where do you think that strength comes from? I can’t comprehend it.
LM: I somehow feel the insane love Cory and I had for each other morphed into this strength that I have right now. There’s just something about knowing he’s watching everything I’m doing and feeling like I have to do everything now not just for me but for him. I also have a safety net below me—if I fall or if it’s too much, my friends and family will be there to catch me.
This isn’t the first time Lea has spoken about Cory’s death. She was on Ellen in December, where she explained how she’s been able to get back to work and cope so well, by outside appearances. She said “I think that at a certain point you can chose to either fall from this or you can chose to rise and that’s what I’m just trying to do my best for him because I know that’s what he would have wanted.” Lea said that about five months after Cory passed, and I got the sense that she waited to talk about him until she had time to process things.
I know some people are going to claim Lea is somehow using Cory’s memory to drum up publicity. She’s not. It took her months to even talk about his death, and now she’s trying to explain how she’s made sense of it. Her boyfriend, probably the longest and most committed relationship she’s ever had, died unexpectedly at the age of 31. She’s surely thought about him every day since, of course she’s going to talk about it.
Took some fun behind the scenes pics at my @TeenVogue shoot.. Make sure to pick up a copy! #marchissue pic.twitter.com/DPg2MObsbL
— Lea Michele (@msleamichele) January 28, 2014
Thank you @TeenVogue for a great shoot! pic.twitter.com/KBpD6V1njc
— Lea Michele (@msleamichele) January 28, 2014
Here’s Lea out jogging yesterday (pink pants) and last week. It looks so nice there! It’s freezing here and we have snow.
Photo credit: Teen Vogue, WENN.com and FameFlynet
I’ve been rewatching Glee this week, and ugh, its so tragic. I can’t help but feel for all tge people involvedin the production of the show, especially Lea.
I hope the grief police keep quiet on this one. There is no one right way to grieve.
Thank you
Completely agree. I don’t know that much about her, but it’s a horrible situation and she seems to have coped and be coping with real guts and dignity.
Her songs and interviews about him just feel so opportunistic. I guess its because thats the way shes always operated. This blog actually helped form my “opportunistic ladder climber” view of her. Wonder what Eyes for Lies would say? I feel bad for thinking this way, I guess everyone processes grief differently but I can’t shake the feeling that this is all a carefully crafted PR move. Ah, such is Hollywood I guess.
Thank you, I too am of the mindset that Lea is being opportunistic.
I also feel like it seems a little opportunistic. But then again, I’ve read the numerous blind items that are implied to be about her.
Just googled “Lea Michele blind item” This makes SO much more sense: http://blindgossip.com/?p=56853
@SnarkySnarkers. Oh no, that puts a whole new spin on things for me. But I thought blinds were all fake according to many posters here? This one does seem plausible though. Ick.
I’m sure some blinds are fake, but some have been confirmed as real. I guess we’ll never know with this one. I never put ANYTHING past Hollyweird though. This one sure makes her ability to bounce back so quickly a little more plausible in my mind.
Meh. I have a hard time believing this. I like the show but couldn’t care less if the actors are involved off screen, so don’t mistake me as a crazy fan who badly wants to believe this is real–where’s the proof? Sounds like wild speculation. That’s a hell of a lot of effort for what was already one of the most popular running shows. I don’t know why anyone gives a second thought about blinds. They are a perfect opportunity to make up inflammitory crap about people for clicks, and celebs ignore them to avoid the Barbra Streisand Effect.
I’m not one for Blinds (sorry but most of them are shiite) but I don’t find this one that far-fetched at all. I could see it being true… and don’t underestimate the lengths that networks will go to keep the audiences and fans tuning into their staple/cash cow shows.
What do you mean, “bounce back so quickly?” What do you think she should have done instead? As I said in my first post up top, there is not one right way to grieve. Out of sensitivity for those who have loved and lost, please don’t pass such judgments. You really have no idea how quickly she is “bouncing back.” Grief is an extremely complicated process and exceptionally difficult for outsiders to understand, because it is mostly internal. You can’t let grief take over your life, or it will ruin you.
I always thought they were an odd couple. I know that opposites attract, but this seemed a bit far fetched. Lea is a type A person and I thought it was weird she’d think about marrying a guy with a drug habit. He seemed like a nice guy but not as bright as Lea and someone who liked to party and fool around. I also found it hard to believe he was ready to settle down with Lea. Of course, people fall in love even when they know someone isn’t right for them, but there is a part of me that believes this relationship was fake. I believe they were good friends and his passing had a significant affect on her as well as the rest of the Glee cast, but not in any romantic heartbreak sense.
I’m sorry, but how exactly is the blind that SnarkySnarkers posted confirmed? Just because a site says that it is solved? It wouldn’t surprise me if that blind is true, but it is certainly not “confirmed” when there’s no actual concrete evidence to support it.
@Shantal: Who said it was confirmed?
I too think she’s milking it.
I absolutely agree. If I was real life in the know on this supposed private agreement, my stomach would turn every time I saw her mention him in an interview. It bothers me now and I don’t have any skin in this situation. Gives me the jeebies.
i totally agree. she just rubs me the wrong way. and now (after corey’s death) she’s everywhere! It’s just odd…
Double Post
I don’t think she is using him but she first talked about it to Elle which was about a month after he died so I don’t think she needed time to process it.
I don’t really know why, but Corys death has really bothered me. I used to love Glee and I had a bit of a crush on him, but I think what bothers me is the fact that he wanted to get better and he died after his first relapse because his body wasn’t used to the drugs. I mean, he had very small amounts of heroin and alcohol in his system, nothing that would have done damage to an addict….its just really tragic knowing that he didn’t want to die.
Unfortunately, this is how most drug addicts end up dying, on a relapse…
This girl will never be at peace. My god, poor thing.
They styled her to look like Keira Knightley.
I love the photo shoot, reminds me of Seventeen magazine of the 70s and 80s (showing my age).
I don’t know if she’s being opportunistic or not. I have to say she seems to have toned down her visibility since he died, or maybe the paps lost interest? And I’ll give her a pass for this interview since Cory clearly was a big part of this album for her. It would be weird not to mention him, I think. We’ll see what happens with future projects.
Last thing, is it just me or is Jonathan Groff extremely hot?
I hope not. What an eternal existence!
Heh. Yeah, that is quite the afterlife.
Jonathan Groff, could you please be straight for like 20 minutes and be my boyfriend? 20 min is all I’ll need with you.
I know!! I remember the first time I saw him- he had a small role in Woodstock- he was just so gorgeous I googled him as soon as I could- what a talent! And he and Lea have such a sweet friendship.
God people can’t even let him be dead in peace and leave their relationship alone. I doubt she’s milking it, she’d have to be one disgusting narcissistic biotch to do that. I don’t watch Glee or care for Lea Michele but it’s pretty obvious he’s always had a thing for her. Girl can’t even speak out after MONTHS of silence without being burned at the stake.
Thank you!
That’s not at all the case here. I’m having trouble figuring out how you made such an extreme jump.
People have given her a great deal of time and privacy to grieve. Her show and fans have been very protective. She is coming out and she is talking about him. And that’s fine!
He was on a hit show when he died. People will talk and build tributes.
Though many, many people thought Lea was very opportunistic and was always trying to befriend certain stars and Glee writers to get a bigger role on the show for her character they’ve all backed off from going after her on this.
She lost her boyfriend. It’s sad for her. She’s talking about it because she wants to. I’m sure if she told Ellen there would be no questions about Corey she would honor that.
She didn’t need to befriend anyone for more glee screen time, she’s the bloody star of the show. If you want more screen time, you have to get paired with her, not the other way around, goodness gracious.
Quite honestly, the people who didn’t like her before will continue to dislike her, only now they have more ways to be repulsively nasty. I have no idea why anyone pays those kind of bottom feeders any mind.
Anyways, I totally agree with you Kaiser.
before Cory Monteith dided, I had been reading all sorts of blinds about him and Michele being in a fake relationship.. and bought every word of it. They never really seemed to mesh well to me. She is so earnest and smug and i think he was laid back and… on drugs. i just can’t see them together. So now when I read stories like this, my perception is really skewed. Who knows, they might have been together… but staged relationships are so so so prevalent in this industry.
She may be opportunistic now, but let’s just wait a while when she no longer wants to be the grieving widow or dates again, and has to deal with even more Cory-related questions. Michelle Williams is still asked about Heath Ledger and they were long broken up by the time he passed. (of course they had a daughter together, but i think williams tries to revise history a bit and pretend they were ultra in love at the time of his passing).
Whether they were really together or not, I agree that the press make it hard to move on when you were in a high-profile relationship. And if the blind is true, then Lea is in a really awkward situation.
As for Michelle Williams, I don’t think she tried or is trying to revise her history with Heath. I just think it was really awkward timing that she had left him, allegedly because of his drug use, not long before he died. It seems natural and respectful that she’d want to put as positive a spin as possible on their relationship once he was gone. What good would it do to dwell on the bad stuff that caused them to split?
Not to mention I’d guess she’d want their daughter to remember the positives about his life rather than the negatives surrounding his death.
alison
Blind items are the ultimate gossip BS. Unless they’re revealed take it with a lot of salt. And those that are revealed are often already well known or pretty minor.
And Michelle Williams did have a daughter with Heath. That means they were still connected and there was still some love there. She allegedly cut him loose and wouldn’t let him see matilda because of his drug use and behavior. It’s not like they were publicly feuding at the time of his death. She’s grieving. You lose someone you love or loved once you will be sad and there’s no measure of time guaranteed to mend that.
If they talk they talk. If Lea never stops talking bout Corey and keeps bringing him up to score roles or publicicty years and years down the road I will give a side eye. Right now she’s a girl who lost her boyfriend to drugs. Drugs which she tried to help him get sober from.
She’s so talented…but pop star? Really? Huh.
Ok got that out. Yes she’s talented, but I will never buy anything this actress says or does. If I write that she looks like a substance abuse issue in the making celebitchy take down the post. This chick has issues and her dumb fakeshit to a d ead guy from Glee isnt it.
Here’s my thing. Do you think she knew about Cory’s drug use? I feel like she would have had to have known that he was using if they were as close as she says they were but maybe I’m wrong. I feel like everyone has been glossing over the fact that Cory died from a drug overdose and instead is trying to paint him as this wonderful man who was just a light to be around. That doesn’t sound like an apt description of an addict (assuming he was one) and it seems like people are kind of missing an opportunity to educate about the very real dangers of drug abuse.
Addicts can be very, very skilled at hiding addiction, and an addict can indeed be a “light.” Addicts are still people, and people are not the sums of their addictions.
She did know. She was the catalyst behind the intervention the Glee people did on him before he went to rehab. I believe they were very close and she knew all about his addictions, but thought she could be the one to save him and turn his life around. And maybe the reason she staged the intervention was because he was no longer the beacon of light he used to be before he relapsed.
I just don’t like her. It’s hard for me to see her as anything but opportunistic.
It always makes me cringe when people say their loved one is now watching over them full time. Jeez, I can’t think of anything worse for an afterlife than sitting around watching your loved ones on earth, knowing you can’t do a thing about anything that happens to them. I also think it’s pretty self centered to even want your loved one saddled with that. Hopefully he’s off doing more interesting things than that.
Hmmmm. You must have never lost a close loved one. I do not think that are sitting in purgatory watching our every move. Yet they are stronger and much above where we are in this life. Protecting us. I will enjoy protecting my loved ones when and if that is the way it all works.
“I somehow feel the insane love Cory and I had for each other morphed into this strength that I have right now. There’s just something about knowing he’s watching everything I’m doing and feeling like I have to do everything now not just for me but for him. I also have a safety net below me—if I fall or if it’s too much, my friends and family will be there to catch me.”
This was comfort for me. Love it.
I just have to say, that song was awful. But hot damn, can that girl sing! I think her voice is too big and too good to do pop. Is that weird? I feel like if she were to go the symphonic techno route she would be play to her strengths and stand out more. The world doesn’t need another Katy Perry, there are dozens. And she’s too good for that genre anyway.