She doesn't open up very often about her past romance with former Glee co-star Cory Monteith or her current relationship with model Matthew Paetz, but Lea Michele does believe that if Monteith had been given a chance to know her new beau, he would have approved.

Appearing on former co-star Becca Tobin's new podcast Fempire, Michele opened up about how she deals with the comments she receives on social media from fans who haven't been overly understanding of her relationship with Paetz, who she began dating in 2014 after meeting him on the set of her On My Way music video, just under a year after losing Monteith in July 2013 to a drug overdose.

"They're incredible and they were really 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," she said during the podcast of fans who continuously post a landslide of comments on each photo she posts with Paetz. "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."

She also praised Paetz for handling the comments so well, and for not letting any negative attention hurt their relationship. She also revealed that he has a lot of respect for her past relationship with Monteith--and even believes her late beau would approve of her new romance.

"And that again is something that I love so much about him and I really know that Cory would love him too. And that's all we really hold within our hearts, and so does everyone else in my life," she said.

Since then, the comments on her photos with Paetz have shown to be all much more positive, with wishes that she be happy--and comments telling those who still bring up Monteith to move on and be happy for her.

 Cheers! 2016 I'm loving you so far!

A photo posted by Lea Michele (@msleamichele) on Jan 2, 2016 at 4:47pm PST


"I'm so thankful for Matthew because we can clearly see that he makes you so happy. Your happiness means the world to me," one fan wrote on a picture of the couple from New Year's.

"You guys look so happy together, Cory would've wanted that for you," another added.

Tags: lea michele Matthew Paetz Cory Monteith