Glee star Heather Morris claims people were ‘scared’ to talk about Lea Michele’s ‘bullying’ behaviour

Michele has been accused by several former co-stars of ‘bullying’ behaviour

Glee star Heather Morris has claimed that people were “very scared” to talk about co-star Lea Michele’s behaviour on set.

Last year, several Glee alumni accused Michele of “bullying” behaviour. The comments were sparked by Samantha Ware, who claimed that Michele “made her life a living hell”.

Morris – who portrayed Brittany S Pierce on Ryan Murphy’s musical comedy series – opened up about her experiences on the hit show starring opposite Michele.

Speaking on the podcast Everything Iconic with Danny Pellegrino yesterday (26 May), the actor said that the situation surrounding Michele’s alleged behaviour was “the elephant in the room” and was kept very “hush-hush”.

Although she conceded that herself and other affected co-stars could have reported the situation to “Fox execs”, nobody did. “Now we are living in a culture where it’s acceptable to go do things like that, whereas 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 set.”

In the wake of Ware’s comments regarding Michele last year, Morris had previously tweeted that Michele was very “unpleasant to work with” but also stated that it was “also on us because to allow it to go on for so long without speaking out is something else we’re learning along with the rest of the society”.

Speaking now, the 34-year-old said she received “shade” over her 2020 tweet.

“People were like, ‘This is so f***ing cryptic,’ like, ‘Why don’t you just go and say it?” recalled Morris. “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.”

At the time of the allegations last June, Michele was pregnant with her first child.

The actor went on to say that the “only person who was honest about it was Naya [Rivera]”. Rivera – best known for playing Santana Lopez, who was also Morris’s character’s love interest in Glee – died in July last year due to an accidental drowning.

Morris told Pellegrino that she wishes Michele “the best of luck” but revealed they do not stay in contact.

The Independent has reached out to a representative of Michele’s for comment.

In response to the allegations of bullying last year, the actor issued an apology and promised to “be better in the future”.

“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 wrote.