Ryan Murphy Finally Admits to "Infighting" and Cast Member Hookups on the Set of Glee

TV guru opened up to Entertainment Weekly in a recent interview

By McKenna Aiello Sep 23, 2016 7:22 PMTags
Watch: Would Naya Rivera Work With Lea Michele Again?

Ryan Murphy is coming clean about the behind-the-scenes roller coaster ride that was Glee.

In a recent interview with Entertainment Weekly, the TV powerhouse and co-creator opens up about onset tensions, sexual relations between cast members and what he regrets most about his time working on the series. 

Murphy tells the mag that despite Glee's instant success, "It was the best time in my life and the worst time in my life." He explains further, "There was a lot of infighting. There was a lot of people sleeping together and breaking up. It was good training for being a parent, I'll tell you that much."

The Emmy winner reveals things turned especially sour when he began mixing business with pleasure. 

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"But I also made a mistake," Murphy shares. "We all got too personal. We loved it so much that we would all go out to dinner and we'd hang out and we were always together, so there was no delineation between who was the boss and who was the employee. And we were all so close that finally when something would happen, it would be so personal to me that I would literally hit the roof."

Fans of the Fox show will remember this something Ryan was the tragic passing of Cory Monteith in 2013. Murphy's efforts in helping the late actor check into a rehab facility weren't enough to save him from a drug addiction, and he compares Cory's death to losing a family member. 

"We hugged, and the last thing he said was ‘I love you, man, and thank you for helping me get better.' And then the next thing I knew he was dead. It was like losing a child," Murphy admits. 

He continues, "What started off as being such a great celebration of love and acceptance ultimately became about darkness and death... It was a great lesson in what not to do moving forward. And many of them are my good friends to this day."

Naya Rivera also recently got candid about her Glee co-stars in her newly published memoir, Sorry Not Sorry: Dreams, Mistakes and Growing Up.

Of her relationship with Lea Michele she writes, "[Michele] had a hard time separating work from our outside friendship, whereas it was a lot easier for me. I'm not offended when people offer feedback or criticism, and if things get heated on set, I try to keep perspective... Lea was a lot more sensitive, though, and it seemed like she blamed me for anything and everything that went wrong." 

In regards to ex-boyfriend Mark Salling's child pornography indictment, Rivera offers, "I can't say I was totally shocked, but still–WTF?"

She continues, "I think everyone should have that one relationship where you look back and ask yourself, 'What the hell was I thinking?' You'll learn something and you won't regret it. Unless, of course, that relationship was with someone who had a sizable stash of child porn on his computer. Then, by all means, regret everything."

One thing's for sure, the set of Glee  was never a boring place to be. 

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