Actress Monica Moskatow claimed late Glee star Cory Monteith comforted her after his former girlfriend, Lea Michele, allegedly insulted her and called her “ugly” over 10 years ago.
“September 2009, I was hired to work at the premiere party for Glee at a high school,” the Michigan native began in a comment on Lea’s Instagram apology note on June 4. “They hired lookalikes of the show’s characters to perform at the party. I was the Rachel Berry lookalike.”
The Fuller House alum claimed the 33-year-old didn’t hold back when approaching her. “I didn’t know my character was the lead let alone who played her,” she continued. “When the actors arrived at the event and found out there were lookalikes of them Lea came searching for me. When she saw me she said, ‘Oh my god! Could they have picked someone uglier!’”
Moskatow said Michele’s costar Monteith “saw the look on my face and said, ‘Don’t listen to her. She’s just jealous, you’re beautiful,'” and revealed she “never forgot that” moment.
On June 1, Michele’s former castmate, Samantha Ware, called her out following Michele’s show of support for Black Lives Matter and George Floyd’s death. “LMAO remember when you made my first television gig a living hell?” the 28-year-old responded to Michele’s tweet. “‘Cause I’ll never forget. I believe you told everyone that if you had the opportunity you would ‘s—t in my wig’ amongst other traumatic microaggressions that made me question a career in Hollywood …”
Several more of the Bronx native’s former costars from Glee, Broadway and beyond took the opportunity to speak out about their time working with her. Michele lost her partnership with HelloFresh on June 2 as a result of the allegations. Michele apologized in an Instagram statement on June 3, maintaining she didn’t “remember” any of the alleged situations and has “never judged” someone by their background or race.
Ware responded to Michele’s apology the same day, calling her out for the second time. This time, she used a play on words from Michele’s own statement. “Perceived? Purcieved? Purse? Open your purse??????????????” the actress tweeted, along with a GoFundMe link for James Scurlock, who was shot and killed during a protest in Omaha, Nebraska.