Glee recently wrapped up its 6-season run, which ended in an emotional finale that Jenna Ushkowitz said was a “roller coaster of emotions,” especially because of the noted absence of late star Cory Monteith.

Jenna Ushkowitz uRant

“It was really emotional because that’s your family and you spend six, seven years with them and then it sort of goes away,” Ushkowitz told uInterview exclusively. “So it was definitely a roller coaster of emotions. We’d be laughing and enjoying the moment and then somebody would start to cry, and then I would start to cry, and then Amber would start to cry. It was just crazy but you felt like very cooky that day.”

“But it was very nice, we got our closure that day, you know,” Ushkowitz added. “We got to say goodbye, we got to walk around the sets. Everyone came back so it was really lovely.”

For much of Glee‘s run, Monteith was one of the musical dramedy’s leads. He played varsity quarterback and New Direction’s star male vocalist Finn Hudson. As beloved as his character was on the show, Monteith was more beloved among his castmates, who were left reeling from his tragic passing of a heroin overdose in July 2013.

“We never stopped remembering him, so it’s just another day that we’re remembering him,” Ushkowitz explained about filming the finale without Monteith. “We definitely pay homage to him in the episode. You know, I don’t think there was somebody, anybody there that wasn’t thinking about him that day as well.”