Lea Michele Says Cory Monteith Would Love Her New Boyfriend
Lea Michele is opening up about the tragic passing of her former boyfriend Cory Montieth and admitting that she thinks he’d love her new man.
Michele made the surprising admission when she sat down for a very candid chat with the Fempire podcast, where Lea also discussed the animosity that follows her on social media every time she posts a shot with her new boyfriend, Matthew Paetz.
Lea Michele revealed during the intimate podcast chat that Paetz, who she met on the set of her music video for the track “On My Way” in 2014, is “very respectful” when it comes to her former relationship with Monteith, who died just under a year before Michele met her new man.
“That again is something that I love so much about him and I really know that Cory would love him too,” Lea said in the in-depth podcast interview, “And that’s all that we really hold within our hearts, and so does everyone else in my life.”
Lea Michele also got candid in the chat about the backlash she faces on a daily basis from Glee fans who feel she moved on too soon following Monteith’s passing from an accidental drug overdose in July 2013, adding that seeing a flood of comments mentioning him are “hard” for her.
“I love my fans. They’re incredible and they were really a part of my whole story and my whole journey with me, so I do come from a place of understanding, but it’s also really hard,” Lea said of sharing precious moments of her new life with Matthew on her various social media.
“You know, every time I post a picture, then it’s just a landslide of comments that talk about my past and bring that up rather than projecting positivity,” Michele continued.
“I don’t think anyone is really projecting hate, it is positive… but at the end of the day, we have to remember that what we put out there, it manifests and it creates energy,” Lea added, “You should want to be the person that chooses to take that second to do something positive.”
But despite the Cory comments that often appear on her social media feed, Lea Michele hasn’t shied away from sharing her first post-Monteith relationship on social media in recent months.
Michele took to Instagram on April 19, 2015, to reveal that she and Paetz were celebrating their one-year anniversary, marking one year since she filmed the music video for her second single, “On My Way.”
Lea posted a black and white shot of herself and her beau celebrating the big milestone to her more than 2.7 million followers on the photo-sharing site, adding the caption, “This guys pretty great too…” alongside a heart and smiley face emoji.
Michele first introduced the world to her new man in October 2014 when she posted a shot of the couple’s shadows holding hands.
“To love and be loved is to feel the sun from both sides,” Lea captioned the photo.
Lea Michele’s blossoming relationship with Matthew Paetz is alleged to be her first serious romance since Montieth’s passing, which she discussed in a candid interview just months after his death during an appearance on The Ellen DeGeneres Show in December 2013.
“I think that at a certain point you can choose to sort of fall from this or you can choose to rise. I’m just trying to do my best for him, because I know that that’s what he would’ve wanted,” Michele told the daytime talk show host of Cory, according to the Huffington Post.
Lea added in the interview that she “literally lived every day of my life feeling like the luckiest girl in the whole world,” adding, “I just thought [Cory] was the greatest man.”
Lea also continues to remember Cory on both his birthday and the anniversary of his death, posting numerous photo tributes to the star, who she met in 2009 on the set of Fox’s Glee.
This past July, Michele posted a private snap of her former love on her social media pages to commemorate the second anniversary of his tragic death.
“Today we remember the laughter and joy you brought into our lives every day. We think of you always and love you so,” wrote Lea Michele.
[Photo by Alberto E. Rodriguez/Getty Images for DGA]
