Kevin McHale Reveals Why He Started Lea Michele-Cory Monteith Dating Rumor

On the latest episode of Glee stars Kevin McHale and Jenna Ushkowitz's podcast, And That's What You Really Missed, the former revealed that he once hatched a plan to boost the show's ratings by starting a rumor that their costars Lea Michele and Cory Monteith were dating -- but it turned out it wasn't a real rumor after all!

"Our ratings had started to dip a little," McHale, 35, began, while he and Ushkowitz looked back at the Season 3 Christmas episode.

"We had enjoyed two very solid years of success and really great ratings, and it was the first time they had started to go down in a significant way," he added, referring to a drop on ratings after Season 2. "Because I was the one who was always checking, I was reporting back and we all knew."

McHale -- who starred as Artie Abrams in the musical comedy-drama series -- said the plan to boost ratings came about when the cast was shooting the glee club's performance of "Do They Know It's Christmas," which was featured in the Christmas episode.

"I don't know who came up with it, it might've been a group thing," he recalled. "So I talked to Lea. I don't know if I talked to Cory, I think we did. And you [Ushkowitz] were part of it."

"I was like, 'I'm sitting across the room. What if I pretend to take a picture of Jenna and in the background, the very edge of frame, are Cory and Lea being a little extra snuggly?'" he continued. "I said, 'I'll put it up and wait a little bit for people to notice, and then I'll delete it, like I did something wrong.' Because the intention was we were gonna get rumors started that Cory and Lea are dating, and people will watch the show."

"We were all very nervous," McHale added. "Lea was like, 'Yes, absolutely, let's do it.'"

The photo, above, featured Ushkowitz and Damian McClinty posing for the shot, with the two stars being the central focus of the picture. However, in the corner, Michele and Monteith could be seen having what appeared to be a cozy moment together.

At the time, which was back in November 2011, McHale shared the photo on Twitter -- and it definitely got fans talking. The actor said his costars wanted to know if their plan worked.

"Everyone's like, 'What's going on? Have people noticed?' I'm like, 'No, no one's noticing. No one's saying anything,'" he recalled. "And then at the first reference, one person said something -- I deleted it … and then it got picked up and was all over."

But as McHale later discovered, the "rumor" that Michele and Monteith were dating was revealed to be the truth, with the former telling McHale that she and Monteith were already a couple at the time the photo was taken, but not even their cast members knew about it.

"We were at the [SAG Awards] afterparty and Lea sits me down and is like, 'Did you know? We had actually started dating then.' Nobody knew!" McHale recalled. "Of course, everybody found shortly thereafter. But she's like, 'We started, like, dating that week again.'"

"We didn't know at that point," Ushkowitz noted, with her and McHale sharing that they believe everyone didn't learn about Michele and Monteith's romance until two months later.

Michele and Monteith didn't go public with their romance until 2012. The former couple remained together until the latter passed away following an accidental drug overdose in July 2013.

At the time of Monteith's death, Glee was still on the air. His death was written into the show, though the characters never alluded to how he died.

Years later, in 2019, Michele married her husband Zandy Reich in Napa, California. The couple share 3-year-old son, Ever.

Meanwhile, Michele, now, 37, has continued to pay tribute to Monteith over the years. The Broadway star most recently posted about the late actor back in July in honor of the 10th anniversary of his death.