Lea Michele: ‘Glee’ Creator Ryan Murphy Played Matchmaker With Cory Monteith

Lea Michele can thank Glee creator Ryan Murphy for a lot more than just a career breakthrough.

The actress and singer says her offscreen romance with fellow Glee star Cory Monteith would have never happened if it weren’t for Murphy, E! News noted.

“Yes, I would definitely say he is my matchmaker for sure,” Lea Michele said while at the PaleyFest Icon Award presentation in Beverly Hills, an event which drew fellow Glee stars like Jany Lynch and Jayma Mays.

Michele and Monteith became an item early in 2012 after she split up with her longtime boyfriend, Theo Stockman.

While he may be responsible for putting the two together, Ryan Murphy said it seemed inevitable that Lea Michele and Cory Monteith would hook up.

“I directed them in their first scene together and they had that sort of chemistry that you can’t fake, and I said, ‘Uh-oh,’ ” Murphy recalled. “So I did kind of know. I take credit.”

And Lea Michele gives him the credit, thanking Murphy for being her “matchmaker,” Cover Media noted.

Michele also has some high praise for Monteith.

“I love working with Cory, I always have,” she told People magazine. “He really, really inspires me, and he motivates me and I think he’s just so talented. Working with him has been one of the best experiences of this whole process. I’m so happy.”

Though they’ve been working hard on the fourth season of Glee, Lea Michele and Cory Monteith have also taken time to enjoy dating. The couple was spotted early this year on a romantic vacation to Hawaii, where photographers caught them lounging on the beach together.