Everything the ‘Glee’ Cast Has Said About Working With Lea Michele

Lea Michele’s alleged behavior on the ‘Glee’ set has been an ongoing conversation among the show’s stars — what they’ve said over the years

Getting real. Lea Michele’s behavior on the Glee set has been both praised and slammed by her costars over the years.

The actress starred as Rachel Berry on the fan-favorite FOX drama for six seasons from 2009 to 2015. While her character was famously the New Directions glee club’s resident diva, it appeared that her onscreen personality allegedly reared its ugly head when the cameras stopped rolling.

The Scream Queens alum assured fans during a 2012 interview with Marie Claire that rumors she was a diva “aren’t real.” But that hasn’t stopped some of her past colleagues from speaking out about her alleged behavior.

Michele faced backlash for how she acted on Glee in June 2020 after Samantha Marie Ware — who played Jane Hayward during the show’s sixth season — accused the “Cannonball” singer of making her time on the series “a living hell.”

“I BELIEVE YOU TOLD EVERYONE THAT IF TOU [sic] HAD THE OPPORTUNITY YOU WOULD ‘S–T IN MY WIG!’ AMONGST OTHER TRAUMATIC MICROAGGRESSIONS THAT MADE ME QUESTION A CAREER IN HOLLYWOOD,” Ware claimed in a Twitter post at the time.

Michele, for her part, responded after other Glee alums weighed in on the drama.

“Whether it was my privileged position and perspective that caused me to be perceived as insensitive or inappropriate at times or whether it was just my immaturity and me just being unnecessarily difficult, I apologize for my behavior and for any pain which I have caused,” she shared via Instagram. “We all can grow and change, and I have definitely used these past several months to reflect on my own shortcomings. … I listened to these criticisms, and I am learning and while I am very sorry, I will be better in the future from this experience.”

While Amber Riley and Heather Morris, among others, responded to accusations of Michele’s negative on-set behavior, others have gushed about their time working alongside the former Broadway star.

Darren Criss, for one, accompanied Michele on the road for a joint tour in 2018.

“Lea and I have had a lot of fun the past few years,” Criss said during an appearance on The Ellen DeGeneres Show in April 2018. “We’ve always played music together and every time we do, we’re like, ‘We should do this more and take this to more cities.’”

Scroll through the gallery below to see everything the Glee cast has said about working with Michele over the years: