Idina Menzel: Why starring opposite Lea Michele on ‘Glee’ wasn’t great for my ego
nypost.com“Let It Go.”Idina Menzel is speaking out about playing Lea Michele’s mother on the hit Fox series “Glee,” saying it “wasn’t great for the ego.”The Broadway diva, now 52, was just 38 when she was cast as Shelby Corcoran —the mother of Michele’s character, Rachel Berry.
Menzel is just 15 years older than Michele and had only just given birth to her own baby when she made her “Glee” debut in 2010, so playing the mother of a teenage character was jarring. “You know, you’re worried you’re not going to work again, and then people hire you to be someone’s mother when you probably should be their older sister,” she told Stellar magazine. “It just wasn’t great for the ego.
But I sucked it up and sucked myself into my clothes, and was excited to work with [creator] Ryan Murphy and be a part of that hit show.”Menzel gave birth to her son, Walker, in September 2009. “I had my son Walker, and then three months later, I got the call [to be on Glee] and so I said ‘yes,'” she recalled, saying she feared acting roles would dry up once she became a mom.
Menzel noted that she was still breastfeeding at the time of filming and “couldn’t fit into any of the costumes.”Despite the casting being somewhat of a blow to her ego, the star said she went on to relish her role and continued appearing in a guest capacity until 2013.
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