Content Warning: Grief, Drug Abuse, Overdose
After the tragic passing of Cory Monteith, fellow Glee star Lea Michele faced a lot of scrutiny for how she handled the aftermath of his death.
After just two weeks, Michele demanded that she and the rest of the actors get back to filming.
She reasoned:
“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.”
But many people found pushing everyone to continue working after losing a friend and coworker to be incredibly insensitive.
As Michele felt her relationships with her Glee classmates unravel, she depended more on her relationships with other members of the team, like those working the cameras, sound, and lighting.
While visiting the Therapuss with Jake Shane podcast, Michele revealed that her home no longer felt like a safe space outside of work because of a "Hollywood tragedy" tour bus that passed her house each day.
She explained:
“Life was very different [before Cory died]. 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.”
"But [after Cory died], there was a tour bus that used to drive by my house, 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."
Hearing the bus haunted Michele.
"It was so sad. It was so, so depressing."
"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.’"
The conversation spread to TikTok, where a snippet of the interview was shared:
While some people admitted to not liking Michele, they still couldn't fathom the pain she went through.
@officialtisch/TikTok
@officialtisch/TikTok
@officialtisch/TikTok
@officialtisch/TikTok
@officialtisch/TikTok
@officialtisch/TikTok
@officialtisch/TikTok
@officialtisch/TikTok
The conversation continued over on the "Fauxmoi" subReddit, and some called the bus tour "disturbing" and "f**ked up."
"...What in the ever loving f**k?" - -puca-
"I don’t like her, but this is just awful. Who the f**k thought that was okay?" - an-inevitable-end
"She’s laughing through her discomfort, and I’m glad they’re validating how deranged that bus tour was to do that to her." - Flaming083
"I did a double-decker bus tour a couple of years ago when I was out in LA with my family. There was a prerecorded narration, and there were so many stories of celebrities’ deaths. I don’t remember Corey being mentioned, so maybe it was a different tour, but I remember stories and details about River Phoenix, John Belushi, and others."
"It was so much that when I got an email afterward to review the company on Yelp, I made a comment about how the repeated focus on deaths was grotesque and inappropriate. I can't imagine what this must have been like for her." - Dependent_Room_2922
"I don’t like her, but Jesus Chr**t." - Important-Nose3332
"Wait, what the entire f**k?" - iamHBY
"Oh my gosh, that’s awful and incredibly insensitive." - Plastic-Classroom268
"F**k, that is just downright ghoulish!" - buttonsncompany
"My god. I don’t care if they’re public figures; using his tragic passing as something to gawk at is so heinous." - greatwhiteskarkii
"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!" - EmykoEmyko
You can watch the full podcast episode here:
- YouTubewww.youtube.com
Say what you want about Michele, but there is no handbook for processing grief and making decisions after a loved one's death. While some might take more time before going back to work, others might want to keep busy—and make sure their coworkers keep getting paid.
Regardless, no one should be forced to relive their worst experience so soon after a loved one's death, day after day, while a tourism company profits.
