Yes, Lea Michele's first outing with boyfriend Matthew Paetz proves she's ready to move on. It's been almost a year since her boyfriend Cory Monteith's tragically passed, and Michele has come a long way in that time. She's written a book, launched a solo album, and even starred in her own music video. She may have come to our attention as the super-focused Rachel Berry on Glee, but Lea Michele is proving that she, like Berry, is bigger than a cappella.
Obviously, that's awesome for her, and I'm glad she's finding success in both her career and her love life (even if her boyfriend was once kind of a gigilo). After all, as she said to Glamour, "People have to understand that I can't be alone forever. Cory wouldn't want that."
But I simply cannot resist noting that the debut of her relationship in public looks extremely staged. In the paparazzi pics, she and Paetz are hanging out in a park walking and beaming. You can almost hear Michele's conversation: Here are the paps; look interested in what I'm saying and I'm going to smile really big so they get good shots of us being happy, okay? Great!
One shot even shows Michele looking directly at the camera and grinning.
Even if she didn't orchestrate it, it's pretty clear once she saw the paparazzi she used it as an opportunity. This is the girl who played the crafty Rachel Berry, after all.
Image: crushable
