After being called out by her former co-stars, Lea Michele has reportedly spent the past few days desperately trying to make amends, Page Six reports.
“She’s had a real wake-up call,” a Michele friend told The Post. “It’s never easy to hear people speak about you this way. It’s a total shock.”
“Lea was a bitch to a lot of people who are now taking the opportunity to come forward,” said one industry source who has worked with her. “She may not be the nicest person, but she’s not racist, sexist or transphobic. I would say she has behavioural issues that she’s dealing with.
“She is listening, she hears what everyone says and wants to apologise. This is her past and she wants to handle things responsibly.”
The actress previously posted a lengthy apology on Instagram, where she explains that her initial tweet was meant to be a “show of support for our friends and neighbours and communities of colour during this really difficult time,” but the responses made her focus on her own behaviour.
“One of the most important lessons of the last few weeks is that we need to take the time to listen and learn about other people’s perspectives and any role we have played or anything we can do to help address the injustices that they face,” she wrote.
After adding that she didn’t remember the specific actions Ware had referenced and that she’s “never judged others by their background or the colour of their skin,” she acknowledged, “that’s not really the point, what matters is that I clearly acted in ways which hurt other people.”
“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 apologise for my behaviour and for any pain which I have caused,” she continued. “We all can grow and change and I have definitely used these past several months to reflect on my own shortcomings.”
Michele, who’s expecting her first child, went on to address how becoming a mother soon has impacted her reflection.
“I know I need to keep working to better myself and take responsibility for my actions, so that I can be a real role model for my child and so I can pass along my lessons and mistakes, so that they can learn from me,” she concluded. “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.”
