Lea Michele Reveals Which ‘Glee’ Line Gets Quoted to Her the Most (Exclusive)

Lea Michele will always remember her time on Glee, partly because her fans won’t let her forget it.

The singer and actress, 39, reveals to PEOPLE which iconic line from the show her fans quote to her the most. 

“I’m like Tinkerbell, I need applause to live,” she recites with a laugh at the opening night of Chess, on Nov. 16 in New York City.

The fan-favorite line is from season 1, episode 18 of Glee, titled “Laryngitis,” when Michele’s character, Rachel Berry, gets a sore throat that affects her singing abilities and causes her to panic.

Michele starred on the beloved FOX series alongside Jane Lynch, Matthew Morrison, Naya Rivera, Cory Monteith, Kevin McHale, Darren Criss, Jonathan Groff and Amber Riley, just to name a few.

The musical comedy-drama centered around a glee club at a high school in Ohio, where they sang covers of popular songs, showtunes and mashups. 

Michele is currently starring in the revival of Chess on Broadway, alongside Aaron Tveit and Nicholas Christopher. Groff, her former costar and best friend, joined Michele to celebrate the opening of the long-awaited revival.

Michele also remarked on the number of former Glee stars who are currently on Broadway, including Groff, Criss and McHale, who made his New York stage debut in The 25th Annual Putnam County Spelling Bee.

“It’s wild. I mean, Jonathan’s here with me tonight, and I talked to Darren, and I’m so excited for Kevin,” Michele tells PEOPLE.

“I mean, Glee has the most incredible cast of insanely talented people, so it makes sense that we would all be here,” she adds.

In May 2025, during an appearance on the Therapuss with Jake Shane podcast, Michele talked about her experiences making the show.

When asked what she wishes people knew about things behind the scenes, Michele replied, “Literally everything … we were all so young and everybody was growing up and falling in love and for me that was a huge part of the whole experience for me.”

Michele dated Monteith, who played her love interest Finn Hudson on the show, from 2012 until he died in July 2013 from an overdose at the age of 31.

Michele has remained close to a few other cast members, including Dianna Agron and Criss. The trio recently reunited at Maybe Happy Ending, the hit musical for which Criss won a Tony Award.

“To me, it’s like there is such a comfort because we all really did go through something that only we will ever understand,” she added on the podcast. “So it’s just, I feel so safe with them and so comfortable — family forever.” 

The actress and mother told Shane she loved Glee “so much,” teasing that maybe one day she’ll “write a book” about some of her “wild” experiences filming the show.

“The show means so much to me, the work that I did, and I love Rachel so much,” Michele said.

Glee ran for a total of six seasons between 2009 and 2015. It is now streaming on Hulu.