Idina Menzel admits playing Lea Michele's mother on Glee 'wasn't great for the ego'
Idina Menzel has admitted being cast as Lea Michele's mother in Glee "wasn't great for the ego".
The Frozen singer admitted to Stellar magazine that it was jarring playing Shelby Corcoran, the mother of high school student Rachel Berry, a few months after she had welcomed her first child in September 2009.
"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 stated. "It just wasn't great for the ego."
However, Menzel, 52, was keen to work with Glee creator Ryan Murphy so she took the part.
"But I sucked it up and sucked myself into my clothes, and was excited to work with Ryan Murphy and be a part of that hit show," she added.
She also noted that she feared acting opportunities would dry up after she became a mother.
"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, noting that she was still breastfeeding Walker at the time of filming and "couldn't fit into any of the costumes".
Menzel made her debut as Shelby, the onscreen mother of Michele, 36, in 2010 and returned as the character 11 times until the fourth season in 2013.
Glee ran from 2009 to 2015.
