The Glee Co-Stars Lea Michele Is No Longer Close With
It's no secret that there were tensions between Lea Michele and some of her "Glee" co-stars while the show was still filming. In fact, in the time since the show wrapped, some seriously damning information has come out about her behavior on the set. However, there are also some former colleagues she's simply lost touch with over the years.
Stories of Michele having tension with her co-stars go back years, and in Naya Rivera's 2016 autobiography, "Sorry Not Sorry: Dreams, Mistakes, and Growing Up," the actor explained that she believed it had something to do with Michele wanting to be the biggest star on the show. More recently, in 2020, Season 6 cast member Samantha Marie Ware revealed in a since-deleted post to X, then known as Twitter, that Michele had bullied her on the set. In response to that, several other cast members spoke about their own experiences with Michele, and it didn't exactly paint a friendly picture of the Broadway star's time on the show.
In light of that, it's not exactly surprising that Michele has fallen out of touch with several of her former colleagues. However, while some have attributed that to her behavior during the time they worked together, others have shared that they simply grew apart.
Chris Colfer has hinted at ongoing beef with Lea Michele
One former castmate who certainly didn't just grow apart from Lea Michele is Chris Colfer. That became abundantly clear when the topic of her "Funny Girl" Broadway run came up ... and Colfer very unsubtly declined an opportunity to go see it.
In an interview with Radio Andy's "The Michelle Collins Show," the host told Colfer that she was going to see it, and suggested he tag along. Colfer's response? "My day suddenly just got so full," he quipped. Pushed for whether he might see it on another, ahem, less busy day, he added on even more spice. "No, I can be triggered at home," he said. Alrighty then, so it's clear these two aren't close.
As for what, exactly, prompted the tension between Colfer and Michele, that's never been revealed, with neither party addressing the situation. However, making things incredibly confusing, while Michele doesn't follow Colfer on Instagram, he follows her. Perhaps his digs on "The Michelle Collins Show" cut deep, which would explain why she unfollowed him ... but we're not sure why Colfer has opted to keep seeing Michele's posts, especially if he thought seeing his former colleague on Broadway would be triggering.
Jenna Ushkowitz has put the tension into perspective
Around the same time that Chris Colfer shared that he would not be going to see Lea Michele in "Funny Girl," fellow "Glee" alum Jenna Ushowitz also hinted that she and Michele weren't exactly keeping in touch. Granted, speaking to Entertainment Weekly, she shared that she would go and see the play if the opportunity arose. However, asked by the outlet if she'd spoken with Michele ahead of her run, she joked, "I have not. I will leave it at that."
Unlike Colfer, Ushkowitz has offered more insight into the tension between Lea and the rest of the cast in the past, pointing to the aforementioned behavior. However, in an interview with Us Weekly, Ushkowitz put it into perspective. "There [were] definitely tougher times than I'd like to remember, but ... I wasn't always a complete joy to be around on set, either. It was six years, almost 365 days, and 12-hour days. Nobody is on their game or smiling the whole time," she pointed out.
Around the same time as the Us Weekly interview, Ushkowitz also spoke about the situation with Business Insider and pointed out that even if there was tension once upon a time, they had all grown up since then, and it wasn't something she thought about much anymore. "As much as people think we haven't, and the press hasn't, we've moved on," she said. TL;DR: They're good, they're just not in touch.
Kevin McHale isn't in touch, but he wishes her the best
If anyone understands where Jenna Ushkowitz is coming from in terms of her current relationship with Lea Michele, it's Kevin McHale, her "And That's What You Really Missed" podcast co-host.
Like Ushkowitz, McHale told Business Insider that no matter what, they were family — and if anything, that played a role in some of the tensions while they worked together. "You don't spend 15 hours a day with people for six years and sugarcoat things," he explained. McHale was also in agreement with Ushkowitz's sentiments on the cast having moved forward from the drama of years past. "We're cool. We're all adults now," he said.
Even so, speaking to E! News, McHale shared that, like Chris Colfer and Jenna Ushkowitz, he wasn't planning on going to see Michele on Broadway. That wasn't because he didn't believe she'd be anything short of exceptional, though — he told the outlet he knew she'd be incredible in the role. However, McHale shared that he and Michele weren't catching up on the regular, either. "I haven't talked to her in a while, to be honest," he said. He didn't share why that was the case, but it sounds pretty drama-free.
Lea Michele and Amber Riley haven't spoken in years
Another of the core "Glee" cast members who isn't close with Lea Michele is Amber Riley. Don't get it twisted, though: Not speaking doesn't mean there's any drama.
Back in 2020, in the wake of Samantha Marie Ware's revelations about her experience with Michele, Riley responded to the X post with a gif of herself sipping tea. That could have hinted at some tension between the former co-stars, but speaking to Danielle Young in an Instagram Live, Riley said that wasn't the case. While she supported Ware coming forward, she explained that her post had nothing to do with Michele herself, and everything to do with her finding the situation funny. Riley also shared that she believed many more things were going on in the world and that something Michele had done years prior was the last thing on her mind.
As for Riley's relationship with Michele at that point, the actor added that while Michele had spoken to her regarding the situation, other than that, she said, "I ain't talked to that girl in two years." Again, that came down to losing touch, more than any drama. "I have no hatred or ill will on that end, and I want to make that very clear," she said. Hey, a number of the "Glee" cast members have said there is no beef, despite the old drama — but we love the way Riley shut it down, once and for all.