Lea Michele and 'Glee' Costars Pose for Sexy GQ Photos 
 
 Email This The preposterously good looking stars of 'Glee' shed their family-friendly sensibilities -- and a bunch of their clothes -- in the new issue of 
 
 
 
 "I've never been shot in so little clothing," 
 
 
 
 "I don't know how they got me to do half the stuff I did," Michele, also 24, adds about the racy shoot. 
 
 
 
 The cover story dives deep into the stars' lives and the genesis of the shows fanatical fanbase -- known as "Gleeks." 
 
 
 
 Michele recounts how, at the start of her acting career, she was told time and time again to get a The preposterously good looking stars of 'Glee' shed their family-friendly sensibilities -- and a bunch of their clothes -- in the new issue of GQ "I've never been shot in so little clothing," Dianna Agron , 24, says of photographer Terry Richardson's field day with her and castmates Lea Michele and Cory Monteith "I don't know how they got me to do half the stuff I did," Michele, also 24, adds about the racy shoot.The cover story dives deep into the stars' lives and the genesis of the shows fanatical fanbase -- known as "Gleeks."Michele recounts how, at the start of her acting career, she was told time and time again to get a nose job . "I was one of the only girls in my high school that didn't get one. And if anybody needed it, I probably did. But my mom always told me, growing up, 'Barbra Streisand didn't get a nose job. You're not getting a nose job.' And I didn't. F*** those people." 
 
 Though Monteith, 28, dropped out of school in the ninth grade, he's not about to suggest that as a smart path. "The last thing I want to do is kind of imply to readers in high school that you too can drop out and be an actor and get on a big show and be famous and make a s***load of money."'Glee' co-creator Ryan Murphy tells the magazine he was skeptical of doing a sugarcoated family show. "I wanted to do my version of a family show. But we try to be as responsible as we can, because we know some young people watch."One of the more surreal moments in the 'Glee'-skyrockets-to-fame story, Michele says, was performing at the White House Easter Egg Roll this past spring. "Rolling down the hills on the lawn, looking up at the snipers on the rooftops. Feeling like, at any moment, you could get shot. It was amazing. I mean, we watched Amber [Riley, 'Glee' costar] sing the national anthem in front of Obama. We were crying." ||||| Anthony Weiner carried on a months-long online sexual relationship with a 15-year-old girl during which she claims he asked her to dress up in 'school-girl' outfits for him on a video messaging application and pressed her to engage in 'rape fantasies', DailyMail.com can exclusively report. 
 
 The girl, whose name is being withheld by DailyMail.com because she is a minor, said the online relationship began last January while she was a high school sophomore and before Weiner's wife, Hillary Clinton's aide Huma Abedin, announced she was ending their marriage. 
 
 Weiner was aware that the girl was underage, according to DailyMail.com interviews with the girl and her father, as well as a cache of online messages. 
 
 SCROLL DOWN TO HEAR THE TEEN ON TAPE 
 
 Anthony Weiner carried on a months-long sexual relationship with a 15-year-old girl online, and even sent her photos of himself, including one of him in a pool 
 
 The high school girl, whose name is being withheld by DailyMail.com because she is a minor, said the online relationship began last January 
 
 In one message, he tells the girl he was 'hard' after thinking of her that morning 
 
 In another message, both Weiner and the girl tell each other they feel like they can tell each other anything 
 
 The pair even joke about nicknames for each other, and Weiners old name of 'Carlos Danger.' But he says he wants her call her 'mine' 
 
 In one Confide message - which deletes the sender's name after the first message is open, Weiner tells the girl 'I would bust that tight p***y. 'The app is designed for confidentiality, and automatically deletes messages and images after the first time they are read or viewed. However, the girl took photos of a few of the messages and images from last February and March, which she shared with the Dailymail.com. 
 
 He goes on to say that he would 'bust' it 'so hard and so often that you would be limp for a week' 
 
 'I have repeatedly demonstrated terrible judgement about the people I have communicated with online and the things I have sent,' Weiner told DailyMail.com 
 
 In the online messages, Weiner, 51, sent bare-chested photos of himself to the underage girl, repeatedly called her 'baby' and complimented her body, and told her that he woke up 'hard' after thinking about her, according to copies of the conversations. 
 
 In one particularly lewd message, he told the teen: 'I would bust that tight p***y so hard and so often that you would leak and limp for a week.' 
 
 When confronted with the claims, Weiner did not deny exchanging 'flirtatious' messages with the teen. He declined to comment on the specifics of the allegations on the record, but provided copies of two emails the girl sent him that he contends raised questions about her claims. DailyMail.com publishes them below. 
 
 He gave a statement to DailyMail.com in which he says, in part: ' I have repeatedly demonstrated terrible judgement about the people I have communicated with online and the things I have sent. I am filled with regret and heartbroken for those I have hurt.' 
 
 WHAT ANTHONY WEINER TOLD DAILYMAIL.COM 'I have repeatedly demonstrated terrible judgement about the people I have communicated with online and the things I have sent. 'I am filled with regret and heartbroken for those I have hurt. 'While I have provided the Daily Mail with information showing that I have likely been the subject of a hoax, I have no one to blame but me for putting myself in this position. 'I am sorry.' 
 
 The revelation comes just weeks after Weiner's wife Huma Abedin announced that they had separated in the wake of another sexting controversy. 
 
 In August, the New York Post reported on sexual chats between Weiner and a 40-year-old woman, during which the former congressman sent her provocative shirtless photos of him while his four-year-old son was curled up next to him in bed. 
 
 Weiner has faced a number of sexting scandals since 2011, when he was forced to resign from Congress after his online sexual messages with a female college student were revealed. 
 
 Another sexting scandal in 2013, involving 22-year-old Sydney Leathers, derailed his bid for New York City mayor. In the course of that scandal, his alias Carlos Danger was disclosed. 
 
 The former congressman has faced scrutiny over online chats with minors in the past. 
 
 In 2011, he admitted to sending five private Twitter messages to a 17-year-old girl, but said the messages 'were neither explicit nor indecent'. The girl's family told the New York Times that the conversation appeared to be harmless. 
 
 DailyMail.com reached out to the 15-year-old girl's family earlier this month after receiving information about her relationship with Weiner. 
 
 Although the girl said she did not want to press charges because she believes her relationship with Weiner was consensual, she and her father agreed to sit down for an interview out of concern that Weiner may be sexting with other underage girls. 
 
 Weiner and Abedin, still living in the same apartment despite their split, left separately Wednesday morning before the DailyMail.com story was posted online 
 
 Huma left to meet Hillary Clinton to fly to Orlando to campaign; Weiner went for a walk 
 
 The girl first reached out to Weiner on the evening of January 23, 2016, when she noticed his Twitter page allowed non-followers to contact him through private messages 
 
 Weiner sent the teen a bare-chested picture of himself with his hand on his crotch 
 
 'If there's anybody out there that has a similar story that they can come forward, maybe use my daughter's example to have the courage to come forward,' said her father, whose name is also being withheld to shield the girl's identity. 
 
 He explains that he did not contact authorities to report Weiner because his daughter asked him not to. 'I agreed because her mental health is in jeopardy and I didn't want to exacerbate anything that she has mentally going on.' 
 
 Through interviews and a collection of online messages from applications such as Twitter, Facebook, Kik, and Confide, DailyMail.com has pieced together a timeline of Weiner's relationship with the underage girl. 
 
 The girl first reached out to Weiner on the evening of January 23, 2016, when she noticed his Twitter page allowed non-followers to contact him through direct private messages. 
 
 She told DailyMail.com she was interested in politics and had heard about his sexting scandals, and was curious to see what he was like. 
 
 It was clear from the messages that she was encouraging Weiner to engage with her in a sexual manner. She told DailyMail.com she didn't consider Weiner her boyfriend, but thought the relationship was a 'romantic' one. 
 
 She acknowledged during interviews that she had developed an obsession with Weiner, and sought him out on Twitter in January while trying to write a book about him. She said she continued to write the book as their relationship developed. 
 
 'Why did I message you [in January]?' the girl wrote in an email to Weiner last week. 'I was studying you- for a book of course. You were my Hannibal Lecter. 
 
 'I wanted to know what made you tick. As we chatted, I pretended to not know EVERYTHING about you. I didn't want to appear suspicious.' 
 
 She also told Weiner: 'I was obsessed with you.' 
 
 Weiner quickly messaged her back, and they struck up a conversation about the large snowstorms that had hit New York and the girl's home state. 
 
 The messages started out as small talk, and during their conversation the girl noticed that Weiner had also found her profile on Facebook and sent her a friend request. 
 
 'Where do you go to school?' Weiner asked her. 
 
 '[Redacted] High School,' she responded. 
 
 Still sexting? Weiner was out and about at the park with his son on Tuesday, but took time out to engage with his phone 
 
 Closest aide: Huma Abedin is Hillary Clinton's closest aide and vice-chair of her campaign. The two's closeness goes back to when Abedin was a teenage White House intern. 
 
 Huma Abedin announced that they had separated in the wake of another sexting controversy. when the former congressmen sent a 40-year-old woman provocative shirtless photos of himself while his toddler son was curled up next to him in bed 
 
 Early the next morning, Weiner found the girl on Facebook, sent her a friend request and they began messaging 
 
 Weiner sent the teen a picture of himself - with this undershirt rolled up to expose his stomach - and his son. 
 
 In one Facebook message, the girl tells Weiner that she's 'very good at keeping a secret' from her parents 
 
 'You are kinda sorta gorgeous,' Weiner told her, before asking around midnight why she wasn't with a boyfriend that night. 
 
 'My dad is overprotective,' said the girl. '[Boyfriends] couldn't be at my house this late.' 
 
 The next morning, the girl woke up to find a private message from Weiner on Facebook asking how her night had gone. 
 
 'How did you sleep?' the girl asked him. 
 
 'Not great. Woke up very, uh, eager,' he replied. 
 
 He continued to send her flirtatious messages throughout the day, saying he was 'imagining' her when she was in the shower and saying she must get a lot of male attention at the gym. 
 
 At one point, Weiner indicated that he knew the conversation could be a problem. 
 
 '[I]f anyone would get the wrong impression we should say goodbye now,' said Weiner. However, he did not stop the conversation. 
 
 Instead he told the girl they could talk over other chat applications that would not be monitored by her parents. 
 
 They began talking on Kik, an instant message app, where Weiner used the screen name 'T Dog.' He sent her photos of himself shirtless, including one photo of him in a hot tub that showed his face. 
 
 'Maybe delete that. Hehe,' he wrote after sending it. 
 
 In many of the messages, they discussed Weiner's trips to the gym and love of hockey, and the girl's school activities and her newly acquired learner's permit. But in a number of them, Weiner steered the conversation toward sex. 
 
 The pair eventually move to another app, called TK, for conversing, in which they share several photos 
 
 After sending a snap from a pool, Weiner tells the girl, 'Maybe delete that. Hehe.' 
 
 She then tells Weiner that she doesn't think she would 'look good naked' at the time of messaging 
 
 She says she is 'pale' and wants 'to work out more', but Weiner says the flaws 'would no doubt be overlooked' 
 
 'I thought of you this am. Hard,' he wrote in one. 
 
 The girl asked if she was the reason. 
 
 'Yes. And the solution,' responded Weiner, adding an emoji image of squirting water. 
 
 'Your body is pretty insane,' he told her at another point. 
 
 When the girl told Weiner she'd just gotten home from the gym, he wrote back, 'Hard. Again'. 
 
 Several of the messages involve finding times to talk over Skype, a video messaging application, when the girl's parents were asleep or out of the house. 
 
 'Skype may have to be a tomorrow thing,' the girl wrote in one message. 'if I skyped you tonight id have to play music as we talked so that my parents couldn't hear me talking and I'd have to keep the lights off.' 
 
 'No prob baby,' replied Weiner. 'Some other time. When it's easier.' 
 
 The girl told DailyMail.com that she and Weiner first started talking on Skype a few days into the relationship. 
 
 '[Weiner's] son was in the bathtub at the time just downstairs,' she said. 'So he would yell at his son to check on him, and then he asked me to take my clothes off, and just started saying these really sexual things.' 
 
 Afterward, Weiner sent her a message with a heart-eyed emoji, writing 'I caught a glimpse of your body' and indicating he would like to keep talking over Skype. 
 
 She claimed the conversations grew more explicit as time went on, with Weiner allegedly asking her to undress and encouraging her to masturbate over video chat. 
 
 She said Weiner would not get fully nude, but was usually shirtless and wearing boxers. 
 
 'He would tell me to say his name as I was touching myself,' said the girl. 'He would ask me to take my clothes off. 
 
 'He would just have his shirt off. Sometimes he would grab his lower region, but that was about it,' she added. 
 
 Although Weiner did not get undressed on video, she alleges that he did send her nude photos of himself when they would sext over a messaging app. 
 
 The app, which is called Confide, is designed for confidentiality, and automatically deletes messages and images after the first time they are read or viewed. 
 
 However, the girl took photos of a few of the messages and images from last February and March, which she shared with Dailymail.com. 
 
 Shirtless: One of the messages from Kik, where Weiner used the alias T Dog 
 
 At one point, the girl asks Weiner if she was the reason he 'woke up so eager', and he said she was also 'the solution' 
 
 TEXT OF LETTER WEINER ASKED TEEN TO SEND TO TEACHER The teen wrote this letter but sent it to a fake email address and sent a copy to Weiner. Parts of the letter that might identify her are redacted. The teen told DailyMail.com what she had done. Weiner provided a copy of the letter in his belief it was sent to her teacher. Dr. XXXXX Thank you for being the perfect mentor. I remember the first time we met. I was a 'wise 92 year old stuck in a 13 year old's body' as you described me. I was a rising freshman. Above your door was a sign that said 'Abandon all hope, ye who enter here.' At that moment I knew that I'd love your class. I walked in and noticed a stack of all of my favorite literary works. Anything from Martin Amis to Albert Camus. We began chatting and I felt like I had known you my whole life. My freshman year [redacted]. I was the first freshman invited and I was thrilled. I started learning [redacted] at the age of 8 years old. I somehow managed [redacted]. You have brought me sooooo many projects. We started on the writing resources center. You and I would travel to the university to bring students to tutor kids at our school that were having a difficult time learning. I had the opportunity to work with some of the sweetest students at our school. I was able to earn 4 extra English course credits. We [redacted]. The student reporting labs have been an educational and a fun hands on experience. Aside from the plethora of knowledge you have graciously provided me with we have also had our deep, meaningful conversations. We share our writings with each other at least once a week. I have enjoyed reading your writings and I have been thankful for the feedback you have given me on mine. I recently shared with you a story about a former congressman. I contacted Anthony Weiner. Our online chats were never inappropriate, he was always very helpful and kind. I wanted to publish my story. He was the best candidate to pin the story to. The story needed a hoax to ride on. Speaking of candidates the election is coming up and his wife is Hillary Clinton's chief of staff. He doesn't have any credibility, I assumed no one would question the allegations. It was unfair to lie to you and my father. It was unfair to spread this false accusation against Anthony Weiner. He has done nothing to deserve this. I am sorry for lying to you, I hope this doesn't affect the bond we have formed over the years. Sincerely [Redcated] 
 
 'When we would Skype, he would tell me that he was very lonely and that it had been a year since he and his wife [Huma] had sex, and that she really didn't pay him any attention,' said the girl. 'We would talk, just chatting for about 30 minutes and it would lead to more sexual things…asking me to undress…he'd comment on my body. He asked me about masturbation, and that kind of thing.' 
 
 Sometimes, she claims, Weiner would ask the girl to dress up in plaid skirts and pretend he was her school teacher, she said. 
 
 'He would pretend like he was a teacher and I was a student. And he'd talk about me sitting in the front of his class, and him taking me after school,' she said. 
 
 He also shared pornographic videos with her, she added. 
 
 The girl said she was not uncomfortable with the sexting, except for when Weiner would try to engage her in 'rape fantasies'. 
 
 'He had some rape fantasies. It would just be him showing up at my house when my dad was out of town,' she said. 'And just start undressing me, being forceful, asking me if I want to be dominated, strange questions.' 
 
 She said when she told him she was uncomfortable with this, he quickly agreed to change the subject. 
 
 The girl said she started feeling guilty about hiding the relationship, and told her father and a teacher about it in late April. 
 
 When Weiner asks if the girl's boyfriend is 'bigger than' him, she says he's a 'skinny nerdy boy' 
 
 Weiner sent the girl a picture of his chest with welts he said he got from his heart check up 
 
 'I was scared. I felt bad for talking to [Weiner],' she said. 'I felt a little guilty and I wrote [my dad] a letter telling him.' 
 
 But the girl also continued to talk to Weiner. The former congressman pressured her to write two more letters to her father and teacher saying that she lied about the natures of their relationship and the two of them were just friends. 
 
 She told Weiner that she would do this, and she sent them to bogus email addresses and sent a copy to Weiner. 
 
 'After I told my teacher about the relationship, [Weiner] wanted me to email my dad and my teacher and tell them that was I said was false,' she said. 'That the conversations were appropriate and were never inappropriate, and he was very helpful.' 
 
 Weiner sent DailyMail.com a copy of the letter he believed she sent to her teacher. 
 
 The girl said she continued to talk to Weiner until July. 
 
 'After seeing what he did with his son having him in the picture that was released, I think that he's very disgusting and he needs help,' she said. 
 
 She said she never viewed him as her 'boyfriend', and that he made this clear by talking to her about his relationships with other women. 
 
 'He talked about women he would meet up with and have sex with, women he would meet at the gym, women he would chat with online,' she said. 
 
 'He would also talk about going to different gyms, and getting different gym memberships, just to go watch 18-year-olds work out that would go to NYU and different schools in New York,' she added. 
 
 In August, the New York Post reported on sexual chats between Weiner and a 40-year-old woman, during which the former congressman sent her provocative shirtless photos of him while his four-year-old son was curled up next to him in bed 
 
 After the girl tells Weiner that Skype will have to wait because her parents would hear, Weiner says 'No prob baby' 
 
 When the girl says that she'll 'work out all of the time' if it 'turns you on', Weiner tells her that her 'body is pretty insane' 
 
 However, she said he never mentioned relationships with other underage girls. 
 
 'I actually asked him if he talked to other minors and he said not that he knew of, which is the risk that he kind of takes when he's talking to women on the internet,' she said. 
 
 The girl's father said he was horrified when he learned 51-year-old Weiner had been speaking with his daughter over Skype. 
 
 'I couldn't stomach that,' he said. 'That really was the worst part I think, was knowing that inappropriate behavior was available to my daughter by this man.' 
 
 He said if he ever met Weiner: 'There wouldn't be any words. There would be no words. I hope I never come in contact with him. I'll be in jail if I come into contact with him.' 
 
 While the girl said she does not regret the relationship, her father said the experience has changed her. 
 
 'She's gone through some depression, we've sought counselling and been able to help her work through it,' he said. 
 
 'She's a bright girl, very smart, so this has somewhat dulled the light that she had previous to this…it's gut-wrenching to see somebody take that away.' 
 
 HOW I FELT: THE LETTER THE 15-YEAR-OLD SENT TO WEINER The teen wrote this letter to Anthony Weiner after her interview with DailyMail.com. Weiner gave it to DailyMail.com to publish, which he says indicates that he 'could have been the subject of a hoax.' The teen told us why she wrote it, saying: ' A few months ago Anthony asked me why I wanted to share my story, and I couldn't really give a good answer so I wanted to explain to him why I was doing it.' 'Don't be ashamed of your story. It will inspire others.' This quote lingered in my mind as my posture was consciously congruent to the hard back of my chair. The air was stale. All eyes were on me. My father's eyes wanted me to lie. At that moment, I had the moral backbone of an eclair. Why was I here? I didn't personally know Anthony Weiner. I felt myself hover over my own body. I was watching myself from above. I was not the same girl that I was when I walked into the hotel. Who was I becoming? Did I just sell my soul to the devil at fifteen? We're the middle children of history. No purpose or place. We have no Great War. No Great Depression. Our great war's a spiritual war… our Great Depression is our lives. We've all been raised on television to believe that we'd all be millionaires and movie Gods. But we won't. And I'm learning that fact as my lips move. Fear blocked every rational thought. After leaving the hotel, I attempted to justify my every action. It wasn't a difficult task. Anthony continues to make the same mistake and expects a different result each time, he needs to learn his lesson. His wife is already leaving him, what I have done will not tear him apart. He fell in love with something and is letting it kill him. He needs to let go. The list continued to grow. Afterwards, I began to cry. I felt physically ill. I made the decision to not go to school the next day, I felt guilty, guilt is guilt. It doesn't go away. It can't be nullified. It can't even be fully understood, I'm certain- it's roots run too deep into private and long- standing karma. About the only thing that saves my neck when I get to feeling this way is that guilt is an imperfect form of knowledge. Just because it isn't perfect doesn't mean that it can't be used. The hard thing to do is to put it to practical use, before it gets around to paralyzing you. I messaged Anthony. He was trying to play victim... AGAIN! He treats me like I'm an invalid. I never call him out. I am used to his manipulative techniques, I know them very well. I used them long before he tried them on me. I see myself in him. I continue to talk to men online. My parents were not surprised that I contacted him. My dad started rattling off all the other occupations of these other guys.. First it was the teacher.. Yada, yada, yada.. They asked me when I would ever stop this kind of behavior. Why did Anthony and I do these ridiculous things? The only difference was that I didn't have to send out a press release every time that I did something like this. I was losing my soul. If you're losing your soul & you know it, then you still have a soul to lose. 'Apology': Why did I message you? I saw that your direct messages were open. I thought you had fallen off the face of the earth. I assumed you would have deleted your twitter for your wife's sake. I had watched a video of you that same night. I was studying you- for a book of course.You were my Hannibal Lecter. I wanted to know what made you tick. As we chatted, I pretended to not know EVERYTHING about you. I didn't want to appear suspicious. Why did you message me? I asked you the other day, you didn't return the question. You never do. You don't care enough about other people. 'It had been my job to get into Anthony's brain, but after nine months, I realized he didn't know a thing about me. I approached him at our post-campaign party and asked, 'Do you know I'm a single mom?' I wanted acknowledgment of what my family and I had sacrificed. He didn't know. 'You must feel good about yourself, accomplishing all of this,' he said, missing my point. Then the conversation turned back to him: 'I'm 50 years old, and I need to find a new career.' I smiled, same old Anthony. I said good night, and I haven't seen him since.' ( Provenz, Jessica. 'I Was Anthony Weiner's Longest-Serving Campaign Staffer. This Is What His Mayoral Run Was Really Like.' Daily Intelligencer. N.p., 2016. Web. 08 Sept. 2016. ) It doesn't just stop here, you did this with me on a numerous amount of occasions. You didn't inspect the emails to my teacher and my father. I made two fake emails. I used a ten minute mail, and created a Gmail. You believed me. I talked to you about committing suicide. You didn't try to stop me. I confided in you. I told you about older men taking advantage of me. You called me a liar. I offered proof. You rejected. It's like you don't want to know the answer to things. I believe that you don't go to therapy for that reason. Why do you continue to sext? Is it an addiction? Is it something psychological? Your brother was addicted to drugs. Does addiction run in your family? I can't fully grasp why I do it. I know that it's nice to feel worshipped. Sydney listed you as one of her heroes. You took advantage of her young, naive mind. She was infatuated with you.You should be glad that I am one of the most disensitized teenagers. I don't think I could ever been in love with someone I met over the internet. I did, however, enjoy listening to your podcasts, watching interviews, C-Span, etc. Talking to you helped me write my book about you. I was obsessed with you, the way one obsesses over a character in a book . One day you're going to mess with the wrong teenager, that has the wrong set of parents. Do yourself a favor and try to prevent that. It doesn't matter that you sext. It matters that you sext women you don't know. You tell me that you're in enormous pain (not sure if you're being honest, or playing victim), you read books such as 'So You've been publicly shamed'. It seems as if you have let these scandals consume you. Why do you let these women brand you with scandals. You WEAR your scandal. You were great at trying to change the world around you, why not try to change yourself?? You were a pleasant guy to talk to when you meditated. We fall in love with things, and we let it kill us. You don't have to do that. You're married to sexting and your wife is married to Clinton. If HRC jumped off of a bridge, your wife would be chasing after her, clutching Hillary's purse and jumping with her. Your image is going to affect your son, even Hugh Hefner has children. If you and your wife are truly being sincere about being dedicated to your son's best interest, pay attention to him. Don't photograph him as you sext. Don't give HILLARY RODHAM CLINTON ALL OF YOUR ATTENTION! You're ruining his life before it has even begun. STOP MANIPULATING PEOPLE!!!! You asked me to lie to my teacher, my father, Sydney Leathers, and anyone that asked about this story. It's sick. You only care about yourself. You play victim ALL OF THE TIME. You attempted to make me feel bad about telling my teacher. You pretended that you were my friend. You said 'I trusted you.I skyped you. I told you that my dad was in the hospital. I sent you pictures of my son.' yada, yada, yada. How many women have seen pictures of your kid??? Every woman in your life? STOP MAKING PEOPLE FEEL BAD FOR YOUR SCANDALS. It's not their fault you make the same mistakes. I am worried about you. You are messaging anyone that flirts with you online. I am 15 years old. You got catfished by a dude! It will only get worse. It's time to retire. I want you to know that I'm not releasing the story for money. I am doing this to teach you a lesson. I want you to get help. I don't care if you hate me. I don't hate you, I care about you very much. I think this story will help you become a better person. I hope at least. I am also worried about myself. I talk with a lot of men online. I am fifteen years old! I catfish people, including you. I think it's time that I retire too. I think that by releasing this story I am teaching myself a lesson as well. I need to get help. I hate myself. I am trying to make this story into something positive. In order for a flashlight to work properly it requires a battery. The battery requires a negative and a positive, the negative is always larger.. It doesn't have to be that way. Sorry, I'm not sorry. I wish you the best! 
 
 At one point, when Weiner questions them talking, the girl says she could give him '100 good reasons as to why we should keep talking' ||||| The new Hollywood Reporter goes deep inside the war room with cast and execs to look at the forces that have made Fox’s hit show a half-billion-dollar franchise, as they also open up about looming cast salary negotiations, that Kings of Leon snub (everyone's mad!) and an eventual future without creator Ryan Murphy. 
 
 The following story appears in the current issue of The Hollywood Reporter available on newsstands Thursday. 
 
 The note was practically a high "A-sharp"; the cacophony of voices blended perfectly to form an instantly recognizable tone, striking the right balance of volume and shrill while conveying contagious enthusiasm. There were big smiles, hearty applause and a collective pat on the back. Only this chorus wasn’t singing on the set of Glee; it was 16 cheering department heads seated around a conference table at the Los Angeles offices of 20th Century Fox Television, the studio that produces the hit Fox show. Piped in via video: another eight team members from Columbia Records in New York. 
 
 Welcome to the “Gleekly meeting,” a pep rally during which the many tentacles that tend to the nearly half-billion-dollar brand convene to discuss the latest strategies for what has become the network’s No. 2 priority. Averaging 14 million viewers this season, Glee still trails American Idol by a good 10 million, but it’s inching closer to the juggernaut with each passing day. To wit: By the next morning, Jan. 20, hours after Idol’s premiere ratings would show a season-over-season 13 percent decline, the most prominent ad on the Fox lot facing busy Pico Boulevard suddenly had been switched from Ryan Seacrest and company to the Glee gang. GALLERY: Go behind the scenes of Glee. 
 
 In some ways, it was a symbolic shift -- if not exactly in ratings supremacy, then in television momentum. And not just any momentum, but the big-network water-cooler kind that’s hard to come by in a world where small cable gets the buzz, even if their shows don’t always get the numbers. If Idol feels like a slightly worn Vegas act that could use new lipstick, Glee still has the freshness of a Year 2 show whose ratings -- and business -- are on the upswing while its audience (average age: 34) remains enviably young. 
 
 Just one look around the table at the Gleekly meeting reveals the scope of how mammoth, complicated and promising the show is. In fact, to call it a mere show seems a misnomer. For Glee, gone is the old TV model of making money only off ads (nearly $300,000 per 30-second spot and rising) and syndication. Glee is a brand that, through its inventive packaging of music and the mall-ready charisma of its stars, has redefined how big a TV business can be. Among the participants at the table: the head of consumer products, playing show and tell with the new line of Glee-branded Sephora nail polish; a representative from home entertainment, passing around a Target circular featuring the Season 2, Vol. 1 DVD (the chain accounts for 25% of Glee’s entertainment sales); and vps from publicity, digital (Glee has the No. 1 iPad app) and international, touting the latest numbers out of the U.K., which make Glee the country’s most-watched U.S. series, outperforming Desperate Housewives, Lost and CSI (good news, considering the Glee tour is headed to London’s O2 arena in the summer and promoter Live Nation anticipates successive sellouts). Also on tap: a June reality show on Oxygen awarding a Glee guest role. 
 
 Although one gets the feeling that, like their Glee club stars, spontaneous eruptions of claps and “yaaaays” are de rigueur among this ensemble, on this particular Wednesday afternoon, there was even more to cheer about than usual. The show had just won three Golden Globe awards (best television series, comedy or musical, and best supporting actor and actress for Chris Colfer, who plays gay teen Kurt, and Jane Lynch, the school’s acerbic Cheerios coach), was named the No. 1 TV-franchise DVD for 2010 and had recently come off of its biggest music sales month ever, moving 6 million tracks and 1.7 million albums, including a Christmas compilation that went platinum almost overnight. All this while the show was in reruns. RELATED: Ryan Murphy's reluctant participation in The Glee Project. 
 
 When Glee returns Feb. 6, it does so in a huge way: with television’s biggest lead-in, the Super Bowl and its 100 million-plus viewers, and the promise of a spectacle on the McKinley High football field: zombies, pyrotechnics, people being shot out of cannons, unexpected kisses and a re-enactment of Michael Jackson’s "Thriller." The episode’s tagline says it all: "A big night of passes, fumbles and personal fouls." The message is classic Glee in that you can read it two ways: signature sports-speak or suggestive, hypersexual innuendo. If it works on both fronts, then it’s true to creator Ryan Murphy’s vision for the show, inspired by the movie Election. In his own words, "I wanted it to be for adults and children: subversive but where the double entendres go over the heads of 8-year-olds." 
 
 An hour later, on the fifth floor, 20th TV chairmen Dana Walden and Gary Newman are familiarizing themselves with the concert industry as they’re debriefed on the summer tour by Azoff, Geary, Paul Management partner Jared Paul, 20th TV senior vp brand management Mark Pearson and head of music Geoff Bywater. It will be the second outing for the ensemble cast, 14 of whom are contractually bound to participate, after a four-city experiment last year that proved a runaway success. Key among them: stars Lea Michele, Cory Monteith, Amber Riley and Colfer, who’s not exactly stoked about the physical demands. "My reaction was less enthusiastic than most of the kids because I never had any aspiration to be part of the music world," he says. "It’s also very exhausting, and last time I tore through a ligament in my right leg. But getting that immediate feedback from the fans is an adrenaline high that you can’t really describe." 
 
 On this trek, the Gleeks graduate from theaters to arenas, with plans to hit most major U.S. markets, the U.K. and Ireland from May to July. But of all the talk of unfinished work — from merchandising decisions (one of the first items to sell out on Glee’s 2010 summer tour: a $200 replica of the McKinley varsity jacket) to VIP package strategies to scheduling rehearsals around the network upfronts in May -- No. 1 on the agenda was a break for the young stars: three solid Glee-free weeks. "It’s man-da-to-ry," Walden says with den-mother authority. 
 
 She has reason to be concerned: Long days and nights are the likely cause for a recent spate of illnesses, passed on from one cast member to the next, throwing off the already tight schedule. "That choir room is like a petri dish these days," Lynch says. "We’ve been dropping like flies the last couple weeks." 
 
 Continue reading... 
 
 [pagebreak] 
 
 Glee is already on a 24/7 cycle and has been for months. In addition to the crew’s 16-hour days, songs are being produced relay-race-style on two continents so that the music never stops. Before producer Adam Anders goes to sleep in Los Angeles, he hands off the work to Peer Astrom, his partner in Sweden, who passes it back at the end of his day. Once a track is finished, it’s approved by Murphy, after which it can be recorded, choreographed, rehearsed and finally shot. Each step of the production process — and, in fact, everything Glee-related, down to the image of Lynch’s Sue Sylvester on a keychain that reads, "Face it, you want to be me" — requires Murphy’s signoff. Operating all these moving parts costs anywhere from $3.2 million to $3.8 million per episode, a 20 percent budget increase from Season 1, which in Walden and Newman’s eyes is worth every penny. 
 
 "Glee is a big commitment at Fox, and Ryan is our most important creator," Newman says. "He combines incredible intelligence with a commercial instinct and truly impeccable taste. Frequently those things don’t go together that well, but he really is an unusual combination of talents." Glee co-star Matthew Morrison sums up Murphy this way: "Brilliantly demented. He’s got a sick brain: sick in a good way, sick in a bad way, just sick." 
 
 Indeed, Murphy’s first series for Fox, Nip/Tuck — which aired on FX for six seasons and has been described as "twisted" — was what got Walden’s attention. "It was appointment viewing in my house," she says. "Luckily, through Ryan’s relationship with FX, we were introduced in 2006 just as he was about to make a deal away from Warner Bros." At the time, Murphy says, he was itching for a change: "I thought, ‘I don’t want to do another dark show about death and destruction and pain; I want something that makes me feel good, that gives me hope.' " Then Murphy got hold of a film script by Ian Brennan about a fledgling glee club and saw potential for a series offering an idyllic view of high school told through song. Or, as he likes to call it, "musical vitamins for kids." 
 
 Newman wasn’t sold. "Ryan is an unbelievable storyteller — he pitches without notes but with incredible detail and paints really full characters," Newman says. "I thought: ‘Oh God, he’s talking about a high school musical show. This is a disaster; it will never work.' But while part of my brain is screaming that, the rest was totally engaged. It was so compelling, a fully fleshed-out world, and by the end of his pitch, it was impossible not to get on board." 
 
 Sony Music also saw the light, not to mention dollar signs, at the potential yield of the musical component. After viewing a five-minute clip of the pilot episode, Columbia-Epic Records Label Group chairman Rob Stringer says he became "evangelical" about acquiring music rights to the Glee franchise. According to a source, three other labels had also met with the Glee team, including Universal’s Interscope Records, which passed on the project when it was deemed too costly. "I thought it was the best thing I had seen since I’d been in America," the British Stringer says. "Nothing in my mind thought it was a gamble." 
 
 His instincts were spot-on. Glee’s take on modern hits and show-tune standards, classic songs by the likes of the Beatles and Rolling Stones and mash-ups of old and new (Rihanna’s “Umbrella” with “Singin’ in the Rain”) have made the show one of the hottest music properties in the world, with 9 million albums and 21 million downloads sold. Glee even bested the Beatles for the most songs on the Billboard Hot 100 simultaneously, and its version of Journey’s “Don’t Stop Believin’ ” just passed the million mark in digital sales. “The cast of Glee has truly reinvented our song for their generation," says Journey's Jonathan Cain, who co-wrote “Don’t Stop Believin’. "It is rare when a song that is over two decades old can be a new sensation again. We are honored.” 
 
 Considering the music business is one of diminishing returns, the 50-50 partnership has turned into a financial windfall for Columbia to the tune of about $100 million. Stringer won’t confirm a number but says: “It’s a very healthy addition to our bottom line. I don’t know any artist that can do 9 million albums in 15 months. That’s basically Lady Gaga territory.” 
 
 With four volumes of Glee soundtracks in the marketplace — plus the Christmas collection and an EP of Madonna songs — the label is planning for two more this year, one in March and another in May. Add a limitless supply of cover songs, and future release possibilities are virtually endless. “It’s not like people are saying this is crap,” Stringer says. “We’re getting really good reviews for these records." 
 
 Continue reading... 
 
 [pagebreak] 
 
 Credit for the show’s music choices belongs almost entirely to Glee’s resident music nerd: Murphy himself. He says his only formula for considering the three to five songs that might appear in an episode is that they “offer something for everybody.” Murphy tends to favor show tunes and standards because, he says, “a lot of that stuff isn’t taught or the young audience is not exposed to it.” He first noticed a reaction from the show’s predominantly teen audience when Michele sang the Broadway showstopper “Don’t Rain on My Parade.” “It hit the Top 5 of iTunes, and I could see the Funny Girl original soundtrack rise through the ranks,” Murphy recalls of the December 2009 Season 1 finale. “That was pretty amazing, to reinterpret something that I have great fondness for and give it a whole new audience.” 
 
 Artists are seeing a ripple effect, too. While synch rates are down — the price tag for a hit song is in the vicinity of $25,000 (a fee the songwriter splits with his or her music publisher) — exposure through Glee often results in a dramatic jump in catalog sales. After September’s Britney Spears episode, the pop star sold 35,000 incremental units among five songs, one of which, “Stronger,” saw a spike of 1,160 percent, according to David Bakula, senior vp analytics at Nielsen Entertainment, who recently submitted a 70-page report titled “The Power of Glee” to Sony Music for analysis. Spears’ 2004 greatest-hits album also saw increased sales of 413 percent. “The halo effect is pretty significant,” Bakula says. “It isn’t all about tracks. Our research found that it was more about the artist as a whole.” 
 
 Still, even with Glee’s undeniable popularity and selling power, certain artists demand a premium for their songs. “We went after Eminem’s ‘Lose Yourself,’ and it was jaw-droppingly expensive,” Murphy says. “Around $200,000. We couldn’t do it because the episode would’ve been so over budget.” Then there are artists whose catalogs are off-limits. Glee’s best-known rejection: Kings of Leon, who rarely license their music. Murphy’s message to nonbelievers the Followill brothers? “F--- you, Kings of Leon,” he says, raising the volume of his monotonal interview voice ever so lightly. “They’re self-centered assholes, and they missed the big picture. They missed that a 7-year-old kid can see someone close to their age singing a Kings of Leon song, which will maybe make them want to join a glee club or pick up a musical instrument. It’s like, OK, hate on arts education. You can make fun of Glee all you want, but at its heart, what we really do is turn kids on to music.” 
 
 Kings of Leon frontman Caleb Followill tells THR: “This whole Glee thing is a shock to us. It’s gotten out of hand. At the time of the request, we hadn’t even seen the show. It came at the end of that record cycle, and we were over promoting [“Use Somebody”]. This was never meant as a slap in the face to Glee or to music education or to fans of the show. We’re not sure where the anger is coming from.” 
 
 Another rock star on Murphy’s black list? Former Guns N’ Roses guitarist Slash, who recently revealed that he draws the licensing line at Glee. “Glee is worse than Grease, and Grease is bad enough,” he said in an interview. Murphy’s response: “Usually I find that people who make those comments, their careers are over; they’re uneducated and quite stupid.” Worth noting: GNR allowed a hokey Glee-like arrangement of “Sweet Child O’ Mine” to be used in the 2008 Will Ferrell comedy Step Brothers. 
 
 Besides, Murphy adds, tons of top-notch talent are clamoring to get on Glee. The latest to approach him for guest spots: Stevie Nicks and Jennifer Lopez, both of whom he’s trying to write in, and Anne Hathaway was recently announced (she plays Kurt’s lesbian aunt). Even former Idol judge Simon Cowell requested a sit-down with Murphy. "I went to his house, and the meeting was simply: How did you come up with this, and why didn’t I think of it?" 
 
 In a way, Glee has out-Idol’d Idol. It gets its music to market faster, and those songs are burning up the charts. It’s the sort of forward momentum few Idol alums get, and as Idol struggles to regain its credibility, it could look to its former follower for direction. Murphy insists he never saw it as competition. "We couldn’t touch Idol’s numbers," he says. "People are unnecessarily harsh on that show. I bow down to it." 
 
 Perhaps in a nod to Idol’s impact, Murphy is organizing a charity effort called Glee Gives Back. “We just got approved for a million dollars over the next three months to fund arts-education organizations,” he says. “It’ll also include proceeds from DVD sales. It’s very important to me and to Fox that we establish scholarships in schools.” 
 
 [pullquote] 
 
 Even though one of the main criticisms of Glee is that its portrayal of high school is unrealistic, in looking back at Murphy’s experience in Indianapolis, where he was "out" during his teens, it plays like a signature script. Take Murphy’s first concert: Hall and Oates in 1981. “I put eyeliner on to go to the show, and my mother hit the roof,” he recalls. “My parents were very Midwestern Catholic, so to be doing a pop star new-romantic look? Altar boys don’t do that. But I said, ‘No, I’m not changing how I look,’ and I got in a lot of trouble.” Once he arrived at the venue, Murphy found a community of like-minded people and "had a ball" in one of the first times it felt normal to be different. 
 
 "I don’t think Glee reflects the real world all the time; it reflects the world I wish it would be," he says. "Within that utopia, I want every episode to end with the viewer uplifted." For Murphy, that means rewriting the Beverly Hills, 90210 rulebook. At Ohio’s McKinley High, the kid in the wheelchair (Artie, played by Kevin McHale) can dance, the girl with Down syndrome (Becky, played by Lauren Potter) is a cheerleader, and the outcasts are popular. Even the jocks, led by sweetheart quarterback Finn (Monteith), steer clear of stereotypes, prompting us to wonder, what was Murphy’s relationship like with the football players at his school? "I dated them," he says with a laugh. "I was popular because I was really confident. The jocks were my allies. And I had quiet little relationships with a couple of them." 
 
 The football fetish — which started with Episode 4 in which Colfer re-enacts Beyonce’s "Single Ladies" dance with the rest of the football team as a field-goal try — continues with the Super Bowl special. Initially, the idea was for Murphy to do a supersized episode, with Fox and NFL sponsor GM kicking in an additional $2 million. But though the sky was the limit and the network was clearly putting its faith and muscle behind his high school musical, Murphy resisted. 
 
 "We’ve taken a lot of criticism for doing tributes to Madonna, Britney Spears and Rocky Horror Picture Show … and everyone thought we were gonna try and out-top ourselves," he says. "But no matter how big you get, you’re not gonna please everybody, so the consensus was, let’s not do a big episode of Glee, let’s do a really good episode of Glee. 
 
 "We’re editing now, and it feels similar to the pilot: a lot of heart. It’s important in that it deals with the gay bullying theme, and it’s about music bringing disparate people together. It’s quite a beautiful little fable." 
 
 For all its warm and fuzzy intentions, Glee is not without its controversy. Murphy constantly pushes the envelope with racy scenes and she-didn’t-just-say-that zingers like the time cheerleader Santana (Naya Rivera) coos “You can drill me anytime” to a dentist played by John Stamos. “There is a line, and Ryan has upon occasion stepped over it,” Walden admits. “And when he does, he is told so by his viewers. But no risk, no reward. They don’t know where the line is unless they are pushing up against it. My kids are 7 and 10, and they aren’t allowed to watch every episode. This is a show about high school students, and the appropriate audience starts in high school, as far as I am concerned.” 
 
 Singer-songwriter Melissa Etheridge is a fan of the show and says her 13-year-old daughter “lives and breathes Glee, Lord have mercy!” Yet Etheridge, a major advocate of gay rights, admits to finding some of the subject matter a bit risque: “The teenage sex and the pregnancy, these are at the forefront of a mother’s mind.” Still, Glee advocates like Rock of Ages executive producer Janet Billig, a music industry veteran and a mother of two, say that, at the very least, racy story lines “start a conversation. I let my 8-year-old watch Glee, and we’re able to talk about relationships, being dumped by friends and boys and Kurt being gay.” 
 
 It’s a responsibility Colfer, who’s often described as the heart and soul of Glee, appreciates; his Globes acceptance speech pretty much said it all. "I get hundreds of e-mails every day from kids all around the world,”"he says. "One 7-year-old wrote me that watching Kurt makes him feel like he’s not alone; others say: ‘This story line saved my life. … I felt worthless until Kurt stood up for himself.’ It means the world to them, and that makes my job so gratifying. It’s a great gig." 
 
 One of the show’s rare missteps was the steamy October cover of GQ featuring Michele and Dianna Agron half-dressed in schoolgirl outfits and suggestive positions. “We really didn’t get a chance to handle it; it was an after-the-fact thing,” Newman says. “If we had our choice, we would have liked to have avoided it; it wasn’t great for the brand.” 
 
 For his part, Murphy was blissfully oblivious at first. “I must be so liberal and out of touch because when I first saw that cover, I said to Gwyneth Paltrow, who was with me on set, ‘Oh, Lea looks so pretty,’ ” he recalls. But even Paltrow could see the storm clouds coming. “She said something like, ‘Get ready.’ It didn’t cross my mind there would be this big controversy. … But I never judge the actors because I know they all felt bad about it. And I think all parties involved learned a lesson about how parents look to the show as something inspirational and aspirational. We all realized that we have to be a little more careful when it comes to sexuality.” 
 
 Continue reading... 
 
 [pagebreak] 
 
 That means the Finn masturbation scene that somehow got past broadcast standards earlier this season won’t fly, either. “I personally did not think it was too much, but I immediately heard from parents and even my gay friends who were like, ‘I wasn’t comfortable knowing that my 8-year-old niece in Maryland was watching that,’ ” Murphy says. “From now on, I will sweat every single word and how we’re presenting it.” 
 
 Ask what Murphy is like to work with, and you’ll hear an array of adjectives ranging from “challenging” to “professional” to “no-nonsense” to “mercurial.” He sees himself as “hard and encouraging” but also giving. “It’s very important to me to bring people up, to get more women and minorities Directors Guild cards,” he says. “When I started, it was all straight white men. It’s not that way anymore. I’ve been so lucky, but if you don’t give back, you’re just an asshole.” 
 
 And there’s one unspoken modifier, too: Murphy is vital. He plays an integral role in nearly every phase of production but especially in setting Glee’s tone. For that, he’s given a far longer leash than most showrunners. Still, there was a moment when it almost snapped. 
 
 It was August 2009, and Murphy, who had directed the 2006 film Running With Scissors, received the offer of his dreams: the movie Eat Pray Love, with Julia Roberts in the starring role. Just one problem: He and Glee co-writers Brad Falchuk and Brennan were only a few episodes into Season 1, and the trio was committed for 13. To do Love would require three months of shooting on three continents, not to mention the consent of his studio bosses, who were getting ready to launch his new show on the back of Idol. 
 
 “It was tense,” Murphy says. “It was a very weird period in my life. Everything happened at once. I was finishing Nip/Tuck, Glee was greenlit and in production against all odds, and Julia Roberts — the most famous, highest-grossing female movie star in the history of the planet — said yes to the movie that I believed in. I wanted to do it, and it was very difficult because they never said no to me. Fox, Amy Pascal at Sony, Dana — none of them wanted to take someone’s dream away, so I really had to make some promises.” 
 
 The decision to let Murphy embark on his Love adventure was “highly unusual,” Walden recalls. “It involved a huge leap of faith on our part and a huge degree of trust in Ryan. To say no would have been the end of our relationship with him and the wrong decision in a partnership.” 
 
 As Glee legend goes, Falchuk and Brennan flew around the world to write with Murphy whenever he could spare the time. The Madonna episode, in fact, was conceived beachside in Bali on a 110-degree day. “I really did admire how everybody handled it,” Murphy says. “I feel very loyal to that group of people now because they believed in me.” 
 
 It does, however, point to an uncertain future. With Murphy’s Glee contract up at the end of Season 5 and the cast due to graduate at some point (“just because they leave this school doesn’t mean they can’t go to another one,” he hints), can the show continue to churn out stars, ratings, quality music and good stories without him? As much as he can, Murphy is working to ensure Glee’s longevity by setting up story lines and the constant introduction of new characters. 
 
 “Chord Overstreet was new and really caught on this season, and Darren Criss has become one of our biggest recording stars ever,” Murphy says. “Next year, we’ll add two to four new people and every year as the show continues. I won’t be doing it forever -- or past my agreement. Then it will become somebody else’s dilemma.” 
 
 With that admission, the Fox credo of gleeful optimism fades as Walden contemplates life without her friend and collaborator. “The pop culture magic that surrounds this show, Ryan brings,” she says. “The character development, the story lines — Ian and Brad can do those parts ultimately if they had to. But I don’t think I would want to do Glee without Ryan altogether. I’d hope he’d have some minimal involvement.” 
 
 Adds Newman: “I think a creator like him has to be handled really carefully by a studio. But, the last thing we’re worrying about is some post-Ryan era.” Murphy shares that sentiment: “I’m just trying to get past the Super Bowl,” he says. 
 
 Besides, Fox might have a bigger Glee headache to deal with: the imminent salary renegotiation with members of its ensemble cast. “With a series that’s this successful, it’s not unusual that people would have to renegotiate contracts,” Newman says. “My guess is over the course of the next year, we’ll be having those conversations with representatives of the cast and hope that we can find areas of agreement to increase their compensation and get what we need in terms of additional services.” 
 
 Those services include participation in the tour, recording obligations, options for three movies at Fox, promotional appearances, press, attendance at Fox events, charitable endeavors and, of course, all that merchandising. On the actors’ side, several are juggling solo music careers and movie offers. To shoot Garry Marshall’s New Year’s Eve, co-starring Michelle Pfeiffer, Halle Berry and Ashton Kutcher, Murphy is writing Michele out for several days in February and March, “so she can go back and forth and do the movie,” he says. “We’re doing that with Darren, too, who has an existing movie career. In success, you should have more success.” 
 
 At the same time, they’re mindful of not hijacking their actors’ time so much that they make a Friends-like pact and revolt. But if it happens, that’s cool, too, Murphy says. “I expect and encourage it. I think everybody should do whatever they can so they feel happy and taken care of. I don’t want anybody to come to work feeling like: ‘F--- you. You don’t care about me.’ For the first 13 episodes, all of us were like, ‘whatever it takes,’ including those kids. Then we got successful, and they were like, ‘OK, a little less what it takes, a little more, ‘We wanna go home and have a life.’ A lot of companies might be like: ‘Go screw yourself.’ We realize that it’s a little different now, and we’re starting to reach out to different actors and representatives and come up with pay raises and movie outs.” 
 
 Whether those pay bumps end up on the level of The Big Bang Theory will depend largely on Season 2’s numbers, which should get a substantial Super Bowl spike, but one thing’s for sure: It will be an awfully long way to come in a short amount of time for such Broadway stars as Morrison and Michele, who both earned union pay of $1,800 a week, by Billig’s estimation, while they starred in Tony-nominated shows. “The jump from stage to TV is astronomical,” she says. 
 
 Glee has yet to hit its peak, and the frenzy will only intensify during the coming months. “I think these kids have handled fame very, very well, but it’s hard for a lot of them,” Murphy says. “Like Chris Colfer. I’ve seen it where he’s at a party and every gay person within a three-mile radius is suddenly up in his face. … At the same time, I tell them: ‘This will not last forever. You will not be on TV forever. You will not have the opportunity to perform in the 02 Arena forever. You will not be going to the Golden Globes forever. Try to enjoy it.’” 
 
 It’s advice the poker-faced Murphy might want to take himself and smile every so often. He’s earned it. 
 
 -- Additional reporting by Marisa Guthrie
– At least one Glee cast member is apologizing for the racy GQ photo shoot that has the Parents Television Council up in arms. Dianna Agron writes on her blog, “I am sorry. If you are hurt or these photos make you uncomfortable, it was never our intention,” but notes that when it comes to pushing the envelope, “we are not the first.” “If your eight-year-old has a copy of our GQ cover in hand, again I am sorry,” she continues. “But I would have to ask, how on earth did it get there?” She also notes that, though these days “kids can be subject to very adult material,” there are “parental locks” and other safeguarding methods. Even so, she acknowledges, “Nobody is perfect, and these photos do not represent who I am.” For more pictures from the controversial shoot, click here.