Lea Michele pays tribute to late ‘Glee’ costar Cory Monteith

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Lea Michele kicked off her An Evening With Lea Michele: Life in Music tour with a tribute to her late boyfriend and Glee co-star, Cory Monteith.

During her first stop in Washington, D.C. last week, the actress performed the same song her Glee character, Rachel Berry, sang during the show’s tribute episode to Monteith and his character, Finn Hudson — Bob Dylan‘s “Make You Feel My Love.”

Recalling how Glee creator Ryan Murphy let her pick the tribute song, at the July 20 show, Michele said, “I’m grateful that [Murphy] asked me. Because it needed to be something that felt real for me,” according to E! News.

She also shared how the tune happened to be one that she and Monteith listened to together and how their real life together inspired moments from the touching episode, noting that, “A lot of what I say to [Matthew Morrison‘s] character in that classroom were exact words I said to Ryan after everything.”

The Funny Girl star also revealed that she’s never watched the tribute episode, which was titled “The Quarterback.”

“It’s the only one I’ve not seen,” Michele admitted. “Because I think if I don’t watch it, it just kind of feels like Finn is still there. So this [song] is very special.”

Monteith died in 2013. He was 31.

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