Lea Michele talked to Ellen DeGeneres about dealing with the loss of boyfriend Cory Monteith, thanking those who continue to support her throughout her coping process.
Monteith was found dead of a drug overdose in a Vancouver hotel room on July 13. The "Glee" actress admitted on the "Ellen" show it's been a "rough year" for her and is attempting to "figure" things out one day at a time.
"It's been only a few months, but my mom has experienced a lot of loss in her life, and she told me, at one point, there is an empowerment that comes with grief - at some point you find it," Lea Michele explained to the talk show host. "It's very hard, but you will find it, and I think at a certain point you can choose to sort of fall from this or you can choose to rise. And that's what I'm just trying to do my best for him, because I know that that's what he would have wanted."
Lea Michele also thanked fellow actress Kate Hudson for opening up her home to her and her family. The "Glee" star said she needed a moment to grieve away from the spotlight before she returned to a home filled with memories of her time with Monteith.
"If you smile it's like, 'She's so happy!' and if you look sad, they're like, 'She's terrible.' It's just really hard," Lea Michele said, referring to the paparazzi and tabloid stories that followed her during a difficult time.
She also explained to DeGeneres why she would rather be on the set of "Glee" than sitting at home during her coping process. "Glee" producer Ryan Murphy visited Lea Michele while she was staying at Hudson's home and together they discussed how she wanted to handle Monteith's death.
"They're my family," she said. "What people also don't understand is that going to work is no harder than being at home and being in the house and opening up a closet and seeing a pair of shoes. There's this grief [that] goes with you every day whatever you're doing - when there are great moments, when there are hard moments - so I'd rather be at work with the people who I love that are going through the same thing."
You can watch the "Ellen DeGeneres Show" interview with Lea Michele in the video below.
