‘Obviously it’s hard’ to watch show after costar deaths

Kevin McHale and Jenna Ushkowitz are once again shining a light on what it’s like to be former stars of the hit show Glee.

McHale and Ushkowitz, who played Artie and Tina on Glee, are the cohosts of the And That’s What You REALLY Missed podcast, where they recap the groundbreaking show and talk about behind-the-scenes secrets.

This week, the duo did a podcast swap with the hosts of the Full House podcast, How Rude, Tannerios!, and opened up about one of the harder aspects of doing a recap podcast.

McHale revealed that he and Ushkowitz had previously tried to do another Glee recap show, called Showmance, but had to stop in 2020 after their costar Naya Rivera tragically died.

McHale says that even before her death, dealing with watching scenes with Cory Monteith, who died while filming the show, was “hard.”

“I couldn’t really listen to the songs he was singing on, and it was just hard,” McHale said. “But watching it really helped me get through it.”

Ushkowitz added that rewatching the show helped them work through their grief, especially after they had to publicly mourn Monteith as their characters on the show.

After Monteith tragically died in 2013, writers for Glee also killed off his character. They also had his fellow students sing songs to honor him on the show in an episode titled “The Quarterback.”

“We had to mourn all that in the show, like, while we were filming it, and move on without him,” Ushkowitz said.

Now, they say that their current podcast has been a part of the healing process.

“It really is a gift that we get to watch this, and we got so many moments of how great they are as people shine through in their performances as characters,” McHale said. “Obviously, it’s hard. Some episodes are easier than others, but it has been another really nice surprise of doing all this.”

This article originally appeared on Out: ‘Glee’ stars: ‘Obviously it’s hard’ to watch show after costar deaths

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