'Glee Project' star says she still receives hate mail 11 years after the show aired: 'I've never been so hated in my life'
- Lindsay Pearce competed on "The Glee Project" over 11 years ago and still gets hate mail.
- She said the final edit portrayed her in a bad light and cut scenes that could've "humanized" her.
The first season of "The Glee Project" aired 11 years ago, but former contestant Lindsay Pearce said she still gets hate mail for it.
Speaking to Insider ahead of the 10-year anniversary of the show ending, Pearce said she receives a "sad" message "at least once a week."
"11 years later, I still get hate mail sent to the theaters I work at and DMs telling me to kill myself," she said.
The hate got especially bad during the early stages of the coronavirus pandemic in 2020, she said, because many fans were rewatching the show and making TikToks about it.
"The Glee Project" first aired in 2011. Pearce, who was 19 while filming, said she was edited to be the "Rachel Berry" of the season, with production cutting out scenes that could have "humanized" her.
"I don't think it was done with malicious intent, because the point was to make an exciting television show," she added, but there was a "cost."
She added she especially received backlash after kissing fellow contestant Cameron Mitchell during a music-video shoot. Pearce told Insider that director Erik White instructed her to kiss Mitchell, but she didn't know Mitchell hadn't consented to it. This interaction with White, she said, wasn't included in the final edit.
"I've never been so hated in my life," she said. "It's not easy for a 20-year-old to be called a sexual assailant, a sexual predator, an abuser — all because of the music-video kiss."
Pearce said it's a 'shame' she can't enjoy the happy memories of filming since it's been 'marred' by the fallout
Pearce told Insider she hasn't watched "The Glee Project" since it aired. She said the general experience "magnified and twisted and manipulated" the things that "a young person is already insecure or vulnerable about."
"Were there things that I did that were dumb? Absolutely. I was 19. I was absolutely an idiot," she said. "I've made my amends to people."
The actress said she doesn't hold any resentment toward anyone on "The Glee Project" but will "always be sad that things panned out the way they did."
"My life was never ruined, though at times it felt that way," she said. "I work hard, and I'm grateful for all that I've been given. And I deal with the painful stuff on the way, you know?"
Pearce ended up winning a two-episode arc as Harmony on "Glee" and has since starred in a number of theater productions. She recently finished her run as Elphaba in Broadway's "Wicked" and currently plays Janis in the national tour of "Mean Girls: The Musical."