Everything Newly Engaged Lea Michele Has Said About Love and Heartbreak

The star's road to love hasn't always been easy

“I wanted to make sure that I was okay with me, feeling strong and feeling happy on my own. I wanted to make sure that I was a whole person again and that no one was coming into my life to put me back together. I needed to do that on my own. I worked very, very hard and I got back to that place where I was genuinely happy and strong and ready to live again and see the world, and you know, bring in more beautiful experiences. And that’s when someone miraculously came into my life.”

— on getting ready to find love again after boyfriend Cory Monteith's death, to FLARE magazine in August 2015

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“Cory made me feel like a queen every day. From the minute he said, ‘I’m your boyfriend,’ I loved every day, and I thank him for being the best boyfriend and making me feel so beautiful.”

— on her relationship with Monteith, to Seventeen in May 2014

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“I’m focusing on my job and taking care of myself. Maybe in a little while I’ll be like, ‘What do I want?’ But I’m not quite there yet.”

— on not being ready to date after Monteith's death, to Teen Vogue in January 2014

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“If I’ve learned anything from this past year it’s that you have one life. I didn’t really understand what that meant until recently. You have to live your life to the fullest and you have to love as hard as you can love.”

— on learning what's important in life, to PEOPLE in February 2014

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“Grief goes with you every day, whatever you’re doing, when there’s great moments, when there’s hard moments. So I’d rather, for me, be at work with the people that I love that are going through the same thing. And it obviously has its own triggers. But at the end of the day, I feel so safe there.”

— on processing her grief, to Ellen DeGeneres in December 2013

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“It’s very hard. And you have to be very strong to come out of this alive, but I think by doing the best for myself, by showing that you don’t have to lose yourself, maybe someone else will feel some sort of strength or comfort.”

— on surviving grief and loss, to Elle in November 2013

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“Thank you all for helping me through this time with your enormous love & support. Cory will forever be in my heart.”

— breaking her silence after Monteith's death, on Instagram in July 2013

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“When I’m not working, I’m at home with my cat, with my family, with my boyfriend, with the people that I love — and that’s how I reset, and that’s how I center myself. It’s so important to tune out the noise and the unnecessary, and just focus on the people that you love because they know you better than anyone.”

— on what keeps her centered and happy, to PEOPLE in November 2017

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“I’m very happy and I think that you can tell. I don’t really talk a lot about my personal life, but I’m also the kind of person where I always say, ‘You will see how happy I am just by looking at my face.’ I can’t hide it.”

— on how her happiness radiates, to PEOPLE in November 2017

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“I love my fans. They’re incredible and they were really a part of my whole story and my whole journey with me, so I do come from a place of understanding, but it’s also really hard. You know, every time I post a picture, then it’s just a landslide of comments that talk about my past and bring that up rather than projecting positivity. And even though, you know, I don’t think anyone is really projecting hate – it is positive, it’s nothing so, so terrible – but at the end of the day, we have to remember that what we put out there, it manifests and it creates energy and you should want to be the person that chooses to take that second to do something positive.”

— on the discomfort she faces with people talking about her dating again after Monteith's death, on the Fempire podcast in January 2016