Astrid Stawiarz/Getty ImagesLea Michele has already admitted that she's simply "trying to do her best" since the July 13th passing of her boyfriend Cory Monteith, and now, the Glee star is opening up about the way she hopes to live her life in honor of the late actor.
The 27-year-old actress-singer visited Elvis Duran and the Z100 Morning Show on Monday, Dec. 16, where she premiered her debut single "Cannonball" on the radio and discussed the tragic death of her former Glee costar, who suddenly died of a drug and alcohol overdose at the age of 31.
And while it's only been five months since Monteith passed, Michele is working hard to maintain a positive outlook on life.
"I feel really thankful for the great people that I have in my life. To be able to continue to work and have things that I'm really proud of, I think that everything that I have been through, I have an opportunity right now to be a good role model and be a good sort of person," she said. "I have amazing fans that have really supported me in everything that I have done, so if I have the opportunity right now to be inspiring or encouraging for anyone—make something positive out of it."
While the brunette beauty undoubtedly has an inspirational attitude, she's also admittedly struggled with terrible grief over the past few months and has turned to music to cope.
"'Cannonball' – immediately I had a physical reaction to this song," she explained of why she chose the tune as her first single, which Sia penned around the time of Cory's passing. "It's more than just a song for me. It has helped me so much in this process personally. It's given me strength; it's given me hope. I get upset thinking about it, it's really inspiring."
Michele, who said it was a "dream come true moment" to debut her track on the radio, also shared the significance behind her album Louder's release date.
"March 4th. It's my favorite day of the year," she shared of the date her record is set to hit airwaves. "I love March 4th. For me, it means so much. You march forth in life. You have to. It just seems so positive to me… I didn't pick the day, I had a day in my mind but I got an email and they were like ‘Oh, it's going to come out March 4th' and I was like ‘That is so meant to be'. It so, it just feels so right to me, so that's sort of been the theme of everything right now: to march forth with such strength, so that's what I'm trying to do."
And for Michele, the very best part is that almost each and every song on the album has Monteith's stamp of approval.
"When Cory passed away in July we sort of stopped and looked at the record and thought, ‘Well is there anything now that we want to change or add?'" she recalled. "It was so perfect the way it was. What I love so much about the album, with the exception of two songs he [Cory Monteith] heard every single song. He was like my biggest fan and critic and he loved every song! He would give me all of his notes and I took every one into consideration."