It was a heartbreaking moment; Cory Monteith's real-life girlfriend, Lea Michele, sang Adele's Make You Feel My Love in tribute to him on Glee last night - and couldn't hold back her tears as she did so.
The actress - who plays Rachel Berry on the hit show - returned to McKinley High to take part in a memorial to her on-and-off-again boyfriend Finn Hudson, whose character apparently died three weeks before the episode took place.
And, while this would be devastating in itself for fans, it's made worse by the fact that, in reality, actor Cory Monteith passed away from a heroin and alcohol overdose at the end of July. The tears from his castmates are real - and the sorrow shown by on and off-screen girlfriend Lea made our hearts ache all over again.
Watch Lea Michele's tribute for Cory Monteith below:
****When Lea's character Rachel appeared on screen, asking her Glee club friends "Nobody treat me with kid gloves, OK?", it was hard to separate real life from fiction. And, with Finn's cause of death left unknown, it made her words all the more poignant:
"I don't know what to say either. I loved Finn and he loved me and he loved all of you guys."
Speaking before the episode aired, Lea revealed that she truly felt that the Glee writers and cast had done Cory - and Finn - justice:
"I haven't seen it yet, but we did it because it was something we all needed to do together. Everyone is asking: 'Is it hard to do this? Is it hard to be back at work?', but the truth is it's no harder at work than it is in life so we might as well all be together as a family supporting each other to get through this together."
Lea summed up the episode as "perfect" and, seeing her raw performance, we completely agree for her; we think Cory, and Finn, would have been very happy to see how much they were loved.
Rest in peace Cory Monteith.