By By Rachel Lutz, Assistant Editorial Editor
Lea Michele will be appearing on the March 2011 cover of Cosmopolitan and is concerning parents along the way. The Glee star also appeared in GQ in November 2010 with fellow costars Dianna Agron and Cory Monteith, together in a pose some called racy. Personally, I don't see why this is such a big deal. Nothing out of the ordinary is going on here, with Cosmo or Lea Michele.
Lea Michele is 24 years old. She isn't bearing it all on the cover, a la Kim Kardashian. Sure, she plays a high school girl on Glee – but that's a character, one who would do anything for fame and popularity.
Rachel Berry, I'm sure, will get to college and realize that to get the lead in the musical, she'll have to do more than just date the high school quarterback and be a singing, dancing and acting triple threat. Glee creator Ryan Murphy has stated that he wouldn't mind bringing the characters to college; I'm expecting him to follow up on this storyline.
Michele's cover also came under fire for the headlines that were scrawled over her face and around her scantily clad body. "The Sex Quiz," "Get Naked: 25 Ways to go Nude," "For His Thighs Only," and the biggie, "Lea Michele: Glee's Good Girl has Some Naughty Secrets," are all headlines that appear. Really? So what?
In the past two issues of Cosmo, headlines have appeared surrounding Mila Kunis and Ashley Greene such as: "Bad Girl Sex," "Mila Kunis: The Attitude that Makes Her Effortlessly Sexy," "60 Sex Tips," "Orgasm Virgins," and "Look Leaner Naked."
Nothing in the Michele issue is out of the ordinary for Cosmo. If the parents are concerned that their children will be influenced, then the solution is simple. It is a women's magazine, not designed to be child-friendly; why are they reading it in the first place?
Hearst released a statement saying, "We're thrilled to feature Lea Michele on the March cover of Cosmopolitan magazine and think she looks stunning. Michele is a grown woman and Cosmopolitan is a magazine is for adults."
Michele didn't apologize for doing the GQ photos (although Agron did) and I'm not expecting her to do so for this one, either. She only joked about the spread, saying, "We were just trying to raise money for Glee club!" In apologizing, she'd go against the things that Cosmopolitan holds at its core: creating healthy, confident women who feel good about themselves – and their abilities in bed.