Lea Michele: I finally feel beautiful

The actress plays straight-laced Rachel Berry in the popular American television series about a group of singing high school misfits. She admits she hasn’t always found it easy to fit in and just like Rachel, she sometimes felt like an outsider when she was at school.

However, landing the role in the award-winning show has given her a new confidence and made her realise she is special.

“Glee has made me feel beautiful. Now when people say that I don’t feel like they’re lying,” Michele explained to the British edition of Marie Claire. “Glee has shown me that I am beautiful, than I can be beautiful no matter what I look like, what my weight is.

“I grew up in a community where what I looked like wasn’t considered beautiful and then I worked on this show that proves it doesn’t matter what you look like, that you’re beautiful and that beauty is on the inside… so yeah, I’m thankful.”

Although Michele loves appearing on the show she admits she does find it slightly tiresome when the scriptwriters poke fun at her appearance. While she accepts it is amusing to make jokes about the size of her nose, she is less than impressed when remarks are made about other parts of her body.

“I see this happening on other shows and you’ve got to laugh,” she replied when asks if she minds scriptwriters making fun of her nose. “But then they always talk about my boobs being too small, I’m like, OK, if we’re going to talk about this then let’s be real! Rachel does not have the smallest boobs in the club, although it wouldn’t be a problem if she did. I mean, they’re not big, but they always talk about how small they are.

“But they always say I have a great butt, which I really do like.”