Lea Michele Controversy, Heather Morris Ponders Why No One Informed Fox Executives About Glee Co-Star Lea Michele
An alumnus of Glee Heather Morris reflects on why she didn’t speak up about her costar Lea Michele’s problematic behavior on the set of the hit Fox sitcom (through the perspective of 2021).
Morris was a guest on the latest episode of Danny Pellegrino’s podcast, Everything Iconic With Danny Pellegrino, and the presenter brought up the news from last summer about multiple Glee alums accusing Michele of not being the kindest during their time on the show. Actress Samantha Ware began the backlash by tweeting that Michele made her time on set a “living hell.”
Pellegrino explicitly asked Morris to expand on her tweet from 2020, in which she acknowledged Michele was terrible to work with her experience, but also took responsibility for not addressing the matter at the time.
Morris, who portrayed Brittany S. Pierce in the musical drama, said she received “shade” for her remarks about 2020.
“People were like, ‘This is so f—-ing mysterious,’ like, ‘Why don’t you just say it?'” she explained to Pellegrino. “I’m like, ‘Guys, she’s pregnant, and all this crap is going around, and… it’s true — and I’m not sure if we were victims of bullying, and blaming yourself is a classic victim thing to do… But it’s also quite real, and Naya [Rivera] was the only one that admitted it. And that was kept a closely guarded secret on set.”
Morris also spoke on how culture is evolving, stating that things are different now and that she didn’t feel safe speaking out at the time.
“We could have taken a stand and gone to the Fox executives and expressed our feelings about the situation,” Morris added. “As a result, we now live in a culture where it’s OK to go do things like that, while many people, I believe, were terrified. I didn’t feel like it was my place, to be honest. I’m not sure why, because I was a cast member like everyone else, and we all deserve to be at ease on set.”
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Morris responded it was the latter when asked if there was “a specific instance” or just an “elephant in the room.”
“I think it was the elephant in the room,” she explained. “We all got close to Lea Michele at different times, and then we weren’t as close to her.” “Understanding who this person is, developing with her, and witnessing her strive to be better all have a human element to them. And, you know, after Corey [Monteith] died, taking care of herself. It was just the elephant in the room, you know.”
Morris told Pellegrino she hadn’t heard from Michele, but wished her “good luck,” noting that Michele is the mother of “a little one at home.” (Michelle and Zandy Reich had a kid last year.)
After hours, Michele’s representatives were unavailable for comment, but the actress addressed the topic on Instagram last summer, apologizing to those she had affected and promising to “do better in the future.”
“One of the most essential lessons of the last few weeks is that we must take the time to listen to and learn about other people’s perspectives, as well as any role we may have had or anything we can do to assist solve the injustices they suffer,” she wrote.
“If it was my privileged position and perspective that caused me to be regarded as insensitive or inappropriate at times, or whether it was simply my immaturity and me being unnecessarily difficult,” Michele said, “I regret my actions and any suffering that I have caused.” “We can all grow and evolve, and I’ve spent the last few months reflecting on my own failings.”
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Lea Michele’s Net Worth
Lea Michele is an actress, singer, and author from the United States with a net worth of $14 million and the average pay of $80,000 each episode. She is best recognized for her role on the Fox television show “Glee” as Rachel Berry.