Last year marked the downfall of Lea Michele after a string of her Glee castmates came forward with stories of abuse that ranged from racism to belittling to mocking and taunting. Now, one of her principle co-stars, Heather Morris, has addressed the bullying allegations on Danny Pellegrino’s Everything Iconic podcast.
The actress claims that the Glee cast was “scared” to report Lea Michele’s “bullying” to the powers that be, which is why we hadn’t heard much about it until recently, years after the show ended.
“We absolutely could have stepped up and gone to the Fox execs and said how we felt about the situation, and nobody really did,” she said.
“I think many people were very scared,” she said. “I know, genuinely, I didn’t feel like it was my place. And I don’t know why, because I was a cast member just like everybody else, and we all deserve to feel comfortable on a set.”
Following the allegations last year, Heather Morris, who played Brittany S. Pierce on the musical dramedy, spoke out and shared her side of the story, admitting that Lea Michele was “unpleasant to work with.” She says she copped a lot of “shade” for her reaction.
“People were like, ‘This is so fucking cryptic,’ like, ‘Why don’t you just go and say it?’” she told Pellegrino. “I’m like, ‘Guys, she’s pregnant, and all this stuff is going around, and… it’s true’ — and I don’t know if maybe we were victims of bullying and that’s a typical victim thing to do is to blame yourself…
“But it also is very true, and the only person who was honest about it was Naya [Rivera],” Heather Morris continued. “And it was something that was very hush-hush on set.”
She says her co-stars each grew close with Lea Michele during filming, but eventually fell out with her for a variety of reasons.
“And so there’s a human element to it to understanding who this person is, growing with that person, seeing her try to become better,” Morris shared. “And, you know, taking care of herself after Cory [Monteith] passed. You know, it was just the elephant in the room.”
Last year, Lea Michele apologised for her “inappropriate” behaviour via Instagram.
