Lea Michele says her "insane love" for Cory Monteith gives her strength

Lea Michele says she's drawing strength from the love she had for her late boyfriend, Cory Monteith.

The "Glee" star opened up to best friend Jonathan Groff (who costarred with her on "Glee" and in Broadway's "Spring Awakening") in the latest issue of Teen Vogue, and shared how she's coped in the wake of Monteith's death last July.

"I feel like the world has been compassionately watching to see how you would react to what happened. And across the board, you've presented yourself in such a classy way," Groff told her in the magazine's cover story. "You really are the quintessential role model. And as your friend, watching you go through what you went through, I saw you exhibit so much strength. Where do you think that strength comes from? I can't comprehend it."

She answered, "I somehow feel the insane love Cory and I had for each other morphed into this strength that I have right now. There's just something about knowing he's watching everything I'm doing and feeling like I have to do everything now not just for me but for him. I also have a safety net below me -- if I fall or if it's too much, my friends and family will be there to catch me.”

Monteith, Michele added, was "such a fan" of her upcoming debut solo album, "Louder," which comes out next month.

"He would be like, 'You're going to be a pop star! What are we going to do? Are we going to, like, go on the road?'" she recalled. "He would say, 'This is going to be big!' And I'd be like, 'I don't know.' He heard every song and gave me his notes on everything. He loved 'Battlefield.' I'm getting chills thinking about it. I would say 'Burn with You' was his favorite. He came into the studio that day."

Michele also shared some photos from her Teen Vogue shoot on Twitter (check them out below). The magazine's March issue hits newsstands Feb. 4.