Lea Michele accused of 'mocking trans woman in the toilets'

By Neil Wilkes, Editor-in-chief | 12d

A trans model accuses Glee star Lea Michele of laughing at her for using the women's toilets at the 2010 Emmy Awards.

Trans model Plastic Martyr has accused Lea Michele of laughing at her for using the female toilets at the 2010 Emmy Awards.

Michele has been hit with multiple allegations of poor behaviour from former colleagues over the last week - a series of revelations that began with former Glee star Sarah Marie Ware accusing the actress of making her time on the show "a living hell".

Yesterday an extra on the show claimed that Michele had once burped loudly in her face, while an actor who worked with her on Broadway described her as "a nightmare".

Now Plastic, a trans woman who works as a model and musician, has accused Michele of transphobic behaviour at the 2010 Emmys in LA.

"I was in the bathroom, I don't know her at all, I just recognised her, and I'm washing my hands and I went to reach for the soap or the paper towels," she told The Sun. "She was standing there with her friends, talking shit, being a mean girl, making fun of people's outfits.

"I was just trying to get out of there. I said, 'Excuse me,' and she's standing there blocking my reach. She goes, 'Excuse me?' and she looks at her friends, looks at me again, and says, 'Excuse you, you're in the woman's bathroom.'

"She brushes me off and continues laughing with her friends. It was a bathroom packed full of women, so it made everyone else feel uncomfortable. People were staring at me and talking and pointing. I was like, 'Okay, I'm out of here.'

"I was dressed, I felt glamorous, and to hear that from somebody who I thought was so beautiful. I went from feeling like I was on cloud nine to feeling like a circus freak."

Plastic went on to insist that Michele knew that she was in the process of transitioning at the time, adding: "I was passable, but not as passable. I hadn't had any surgery yet and was still undergoing laser treatment. She knew.

"I was just starting hormones and was very vulnerable during that period, you look in the mirror and there's this dysphoria, this disconnect. To have that amplified by other people is just very damaging and dangerous for trans people, it's why so many commit suicide."

Michele issued an apology for her past "immaturity" earlier this week but has not yet commented on any of the subsequent allegations levelled at her.