Lea Michele reveals she had ‘healing’ conversations with ‘Glee’ co-stars during pandemic

The pandemic was an eye-opening time for actress Lea Michele.

In a recent interview with playwright Jeremy O. Harris for Interview Magazine, Michele discussed how conversations behind closed doors helped her heal and prepare for her latest role as Fanny Brice in the Broadway musical “Funny Girl.”

“I think these past two years have been so important for everybody to just sit back and reflect,” Michele said.

“At the end of the day, what matters the most is how you make people feel. And you have to put aside your feelings. The conversations that I’ve had behind the scenes with some people were incredibly healing and very eye-opening for me.”

In 2020, one of Michele’s co-stars, Samantha Ware, started an internet firestorm when she accused Michele of making her time on the show ‘Glee’ a “living hell.”

Other actors from the television series chimed in, adding credence to Ware’s accusation. Dabier Snell, who appeared in season 5, responded “Girl you wouldnt let me sit at the table with the other cast members cause ‘I didn’t belong there’ f—k you Lea.”

Michele took to Instagram the next day to make a statement.

“While I don’t remember ever making this specific statement and I have never judged others by their background or color of their skin, that’s not really the point,” Michele said. “What matters is that I clearly acted in ways which hurt other people.”

Harris explained to her, in the conversation from Tuesday, “people would be looking at this interview with a lot of side-eye if I didn’t ask you about [it].”

“I did a lot of personal reach-outs,” Michele went on. “But the most important thing was for everybody to just take a step back. More than anything, I’m so grateful to have this opportunity to apply the things that I’ve learned over the past ten-plus years in a positive way.

Michele says her new role gives her the opportunity to “introduce people to who I am now.”

“What I told myself stepping into ‘Funny Girl’ was, ‘If I can’t take my role as a leader offstage as important as my role as a leader onstage, then I shouldn’t do this show,’’' she explained. “Because that was always a struggle for me.”