‘A little uncomfortable’: Chris Colfer says ‘Glee’ fans tried to control his dating life

In a new conversation with Bustle, Chris Colfer said some Glee supporters went past harmless shipping and started insisting he date his on-screen love interest, Darren Criss, offscreen — pressure he says bled into his personal life and made him uneasy.

“They really, really wanted Darren [Criss] and me to be in a relationship in real life,” Colfer told Bustle.

“Sometimes those people would cross a line and make me feel a little uncomfortable.”

Colfer explained that fans sometimes lifted details from his private life — or invented them — to prop up their stories. At one point, he said he couldn’t be photographed with anyone without that person becoming fan-fiction material, comparing it to being “patient zero.” He called some of the tales “jarring” and occasionally “s*****,” while admitting there was one upside: in those stories, he was usually the hero, rarely the villain.

Glee ran for six seasons, and the Kurt-and-Blaine romance — Colfer as Kurt Hummel, Criss as Blaine Anderson — became a fandom engine that churned out years of fic and shipped the pair long after the show ended.

Offscreen lives

• Darren Criss — married Mia Swier in 2019; the couple has two children.
• Chris Colfer — dating actor- producer Will Sherrod since 2013 after reportedly meeting in Glee circles in 2012. They marked 13 years together in January 2026, with Colfer posting a message praising Sherrod as a great boyfriend and a devoted dog dad.

On a possible Glee follow-up, Colfer said he’s waiting for details while Ryan Murphy focuses on his anthology series Monster, and he’d only seriously consider stepping back in as Kurt once there’s something concrete to weigh.

Colfer also has his first film of the decade on deck: the campy horror The Restoration at Grayson Manor, opening in limited theaters on Friday, October 9.