Fans are getting ready as the seventh installment of The Fast and the Furious franchise, 'Furious 7', as it releases in a little over a week. While the death of one of the stars, Paul Walker, happened over two years ago, cast members still feel the sting of his death.

Michelle Rodriguez, who plays Letty Otiz in five of the films, opened up and told various sources that Walker's death greatly impacted the course of her life since he was killed in a tragic car accident in November 2013.

"I was pushing myself to feel," she told Entertainment Weekly, "I felt like nothing I could do could make me feel alive, so I just kept pushing myself harder and harder. I was traveling ... and I was just trying to ignore everything that I was feeling."

Now, Rodriguez said she is moving on. "I just woke up [one morning] with a profound respect for living," she says. "I stood tall one day and I said, 'You know what, Michelle? Stop f-ing hiding. Go manifest.' And all of a sudden, I picked myself up and started hustling."

Furious 7 took a long break from filming after Walker's death. In honor of the late actor, the crew decided to keep him in the film by using advanced CGI technology and his brother as stand-ins for many scenes.

"After walking out of that screening, that breath is the best breath I've taken in years. Just that relief," Rodriguez said in an interview with Variety, "Everybody really tried to put their best foot forward in the name of Paul. I could see that in the ADR. I could see that in the way the studio handled the PR. It's almost like the tragedy created harmony."