Heather Morris Has Kissed a Girl In Real Life, Reads A Lot of Books

If you’re thirteen and therefore subscribe to Seventeen (I know I did!), you might already know that Heather Morris, aka Brittany S. Pierce on the fantastically unpredictable musical television program Glee, is on the cover of Seventeen magazine’s November issue. However, it’s statistically unlikely that anyone reading this is thirteen, which is why we’ve taken it upon ourselves to fill you in. Unfortunately, if you need to learn how to “Get Un-Bored This Weekend” or find out how to “Save $$$ At The Mall!” you’ll have to buy the issue yourself. It’s important to support print journalism.

There’s a lot of really important things in this world-changing interview that I will cover shortly. But first let’s cut to the gay stuff. From the intro to the interview:

With each passing episode, Heather’s role gets bigger and more complex — her nonjudgmental  portrayal of a girl who’s in love with both a guy and her closest girl friend is particularly groundbreaking.

She’s “in love with her closest girl friend,” is she? From the interview:

Your role on Glee is your first acting job, right? Who helped you on set on the first day?
Naya and I just did a scene together. It was my first acting scene, and we just started talking. Her and I immediately became good friends.

And now your character is having a relationship with Naya’s character. Is it weird kissing a good friend?
It was weird. I mean, we were both giggling. I could not imagine doing this with any of my close friends now. If we played Spin the Bottle one night, I would never. It’d be so weird. I couldn’t.

Have you ever kissed a girl in your real life?
Yeah. Mostly for guys’ attention when I was in high school. One time I did it when I was curious with a friend, but she wasn’t my best friend.

What would be your advice to a reader who is questioning her sexuality?
Everybody’s process is different. When I was younger, you’re like, I love my friends. Girls are so fun to hang out with. I don’t like boys. Maybe I’m gay! Maybe it’s just by process of elimination, who you enjoy to hang out with. I don’t really have advice because each person is different.

Heather Morris’s father died when she was 14 and she coped with it by alternately crying in her pajamas and dancing (I preferred dancing in my pajamas, for the record). And here I thought we’d never have anything in common because I am the worst dancer/singer ever. She told Seventeen:

“I think about my Dad more than I ever have — but in a good way, because I feel like I’m hanging out with him all the time. I always kind of pretend he’s here.”

Adorable, right?

The article also reveals that Heather has been dating her “former high school schoolmate and boyfriend, Taylor Hubbel, for four years — and has zero interest in dating up the Hollywood ladder,” which I think is a pubescent way to say that unlike Cory Monteith, she didn’t sleep with Ryan Murphy to get the job. (JUST KIDDING! Finn is a lesbian DUH!)

Heather started taking dance lessons at 18 months old and BTW is “seriously smart.” No joking around, she seriously graduated from her Scottsdale, Arizona high school with a seriously 4.0 average, which should be very inspirational to Seventeen‘s target audience:

“I was a really good student. I liked math and science.” (These days her fellow Glee castmates like to tease her because she always has her nose in a book.)

Who doesn’t love a girl in a book? Idiots, that’s who.

At 19, Morris moved to LA to follow her dreams, which landed her a primo gig as a greeter at Abercrombie & Fitch, where everybody is beautiful. Her career kicked into high gear when cast as a backup dancer for Beyonce’s world tour. Later she’d be called on to the set of that show Glee to teach the team how to do the Single Ladies dance (it’s a very obscure dance) and was so awesome that they kept her around. I think we’re all really happy about that.

Here are some special behind-the-scenes videos from the Seventeen shoot:

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Riese

Riese is the 41-year-old Co-Founder of Autostraddle.com as well as an award-winning writer, video-maker, LGBTQ+ Marketing consultant and aspiring cyber-performance artist who grew up in Michigan, lost her mind in New York and now lives in Los Angeles. Her work has appeared in nine books, magazines including Marie Claire and Curve, and all over the web including Nylon, Queerty, Nerve, Bitch, Emily Books and Jezebel. She had a very popular personal blog once upon a time, and then she recapped The L Word, and then she had the idea to make this place, and now here we all are! In 2016, she was nominated for a GLAAD Award for Outstanding Digital Journalism. She's Jewish and has a cute dog named Carol. Follow her on twitter and instagram.

Riese has written 3238 articles for us.

41 Comments

  1. “Naya is a good kisser. But if I could pick someone to make out with in an upcoming episode it would be Kevin.”

    Disregard Heather’s apparent Bartie shipping, focus in on the real goods… HOW WOULD SHE KNOW HOW GOOD NAYA IS AT KISSING?

    BRITTANA KISS!

    (Unless that ridiculous neck pecking that they did last season or that teensy smooch on tour was supposed to be kissing.)

    • Hate to break it to you, but they already kissed last season, remember? It was during “Duets.”

      Also I feel like finding out that she prefers Kevin’s kissing kind of explains Heather’s Bartie shipping and makes it less horrible somehow?

    • That being said, did you the recent AfterEllen article about what’s supposed to happen next episode? (Not saying here since some people don’t like spoilers.)

  2. I seriously do not think I have picked up a Seventeen since the ripe age of 13, but I’m considering now so I can get hair and makeup ideas that make me instantly prettier. Definitely sounds like valuable information. Few things can provide instantaneous results.

    Awww yeaaa, and so I can get some advice on my sexuality questioning from more seriously smart girls like this.

  3. “Yeah. Mostly for guys’ attention when I was in high school. One time I did it when I was curious with a friend, but she wasn’t my best friend.”

    Ugh.

    • Well at least she’s honest about the stupid stage in high school, AND that it was only to get guys attention. Better than those dumb girls saying “I’m SOOOO bi. I totally made out with my friend at a bar this one time. We got SOOOOO many drinkssss” etc

  4. The interview rubbed me the completely wrong way, but that might just be Seventeen’s fault. They’re not exactly the pinnacle of meaningful journalism. But hey, pictures! I wonder just how much dancing would I have to do to get her legs.

  5. I actually think this interview is one of her better ones. The only part that made me kind of scratch my head is where she says she loves her boyfriend because he likes her and he’s hot and he’s cool. Like… okay? She seems like a sweet girl but she’s not very media savvy.

    • She also said something about not being able to talk about certain things around him because it wouldn’t be “sexy.” So… sounds like they have a super fun, deep, fulfilling relationship.

      /maybe they do, I’m just being a bitch

  6. “HER and I immediately became good friends”?

    I’m sorry, but if she’s so smart, why doesn’t she know that you don’t use an object pronoun in place of a subject pronoun?

    • Being intelligent doesn’t mean you have any kind of grammar skills. Just ask anyone who has ever been a technical editor.

      • also, lets be reminded that Heather Morris didn’t write the article, a Seventeen writer did. She may have used correct grammar and the writer wrote it down wrong, or was just a jerk to not correct a misspoken word.

  7. has anyone actually read Seventeen lately? i hadn’t read one in easily 10 years and some random ones showed up at work…
    OMG! they are horrible. sexist, mindless babble directed at teen girls. i was literally horrified at the dating advice they give and how they talk about guys. treating boys like idiots and girls like the ones who have to manipulate them. i hope all the girls who read it take it with a grain of salt… and a time magazine.

    i wonder if it was always this bad or has changed since my highschool years.
    if its always been like this i now know where some of my ridiculous ideas about relationships and my place in the world came from when i was a teenager.

    • Nah, I think it’s always been like that. I still have some old teen magazines lying around my house and the advice columns are hilarious.

      Except American Girl. That magazine was the best.

    • May I also recommend Rookie? (www.rookiemag.com) I wish print media was still a booming industry and also maybe that I was still 13 (except yikes gosh not really) because I know my (pre)teen self would’ve killed to get print issues of AS & Rookie in my mailbox every month.

      • I would have absolutely devoured Rookie when I was a teenager. All Seventeen ever did for me was make me feel even more abnormal than I already felt.

  8. I have seen Kate French do part of the Single Ladies dance while being 20 ft away from me. Girl can move her heaps like nobody’s business.

    Anyways, that interview was sooo ‘teen girls magazine’ like. Love Heather. She seems awesome.

    I actually worked at an Australian teen magazine as a guest writer once. It was fun. But my gosh the magazines are so heterosexist. I could never relate to any of the content pretty much. That’s why I wrote for the entertainment section.

  9. HeMo is some serious eye candy, but she’s one of the less articulate cast members on the show. Like, she’s stunning, and she’s an amazing dancer, but she’s not meant for acting. This doesn’t stop me from shipping Brittana like it’s my job, but…

    • could not agree more. in that short behind-the-scenes video, she claims that artie and brittany are cute together because they’re “both crippled.” what the actual fuck.

  10. Hmmm yeah this interview made me uncomfortable. It’s just for Seventeen but this is how girls start reading what they should and shouldn’t be doing. I read Seventeen maybe once as a teen and hated it then too.

    Maybe it is HeMo who is holding back Brittana not just RIB.

  11. OMG!!!! I Loooooovvvveeee Heather Morris.. She is a beauty and my insperation..I would love to meet her and even though I’m a lesbian… I bet you that she will still be on Glee.. Heather Morris I wish you the best and I love you with all my heart and soul. I’ve actually cried during the episode”shooting star” because you were crying.
    Heather Morris I promise you that I will always keep you in my heart and that you will still be my favorite person.
    PLEASE stay on Glee and sign the contract for season 5.
    Heather I love you and I’ve always been afraid to talk about Glee to all my friends because they might not like me anymore because the show gives me courage and braveness to stand up for my self..
    I LOVE YOU and ALWAYS will….Please try to join in for season 5 and beyond that.. I LOVE YOU Heather!!!

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