Lea Michele says she once 'cornered' Jonathan Groff at a party to profess her love for him before realizing he was gay

• Lea Michele said she once "cornered" Jonathan Groff at a party to profess her love for him before realizing he was gay.
• "I said to him, 'Why don't you love me? Just love me,'" Michele recalled of the interaction.

Lea Michele once professed her love for "Spring Awakening" costar Jonathan Groff at a party, only to realize that he was gay.

Michele and Groff played two lovesick teenagers in the edgy Broadway musical, but as Michele recently revealed in the upcoming HBO documentary "Spring Awakening: Those You've Known," feelings between the two actors started to develop in real life, too.

"I fell in love with him in more ways than one," Michele said of working on the musical with Groff. Groff, for his part, said that the musical's book — which has his character, Melchior, fall in love with Michele's character, Wendla, and later take her virginity during an intimate scene at the end of Act I — contributed to the intense emotions.

"Lea and I were given this material where we had to fall in love," the "Hamilton" actor explained. "We were grasping onto each other, we were really in love."

Michele finally decided to make her feelings known, after she realized she "was so in love" with Groff.

"I cornered him at a party, and I said to him, 'Why don't you love me? Just love me. Why can't you love me? Date me. Love me,'" Michele recalled in the documentary. "And I just saw this look in his eyes, and in that moment, I knew. I realized in that moment, 'This is the end.' And I need to protect this. This is intense."

"I never asked him again about his sexuality," Michele added.

According to the "Scream Queens" actress, Groff "felt safe with me because he knew that I knew and that we could be best friends."

Groff also revealed that his upbringing in a "religious" community "surrounded by the Amish" made him hesitant to be open about his sexuality.

"I felt… ashamed of who I was. I guess I was also afraid that if people knew who I was, they wouldn't find what I was doing believable," the actor said.

Ultimately, however, Groff and Michele developed a strong friendship during their time performing in the hit show that they've maintained to this day.

"Our relationship just grew and grew to the point that we would do the show and then we would go home together. That's why Jonathan and I became so close. We were so intertwined," Michele said.

"Spring Awakening: Those You've Known" premieres May 3 on HBO Max.