Video: Lea Michele poses in in the latest Harper's Bazaar Magazine

She's the star of one of the biggest TV phenomenons of the past year. But Glee actress Lea Michele has revealed how she was long told she needed to change her looks to find success.

In a new interview with Harper's Bazaar, the 25-year-old revealed that she was told she was not pretty enough, and should consider a nose job.

She said: 'How many managers told me, "Get a nose job. You’re not pretty enough"? But I proved them wrong.'

Scroll down for a behind-the-scenes video from the shoot

Not pretty enough for TV? Glee star Lea Michele poses in new season Gucci in the latest Harper's Bazaar

She knows she is having the last laugh now. Glee has turned into an empire with bestselling albums, a Wii karaoke game and a spin-off reality show.

And this month it will be making its big screen debut in Glee: The 3D Concert Movie.

On appearing in 3D for the first time, she joked: 'My nose is going to look fabulous.'

Life imitating art! Lea as Rachel Berry with her castmates in season one of Glee. She admitted that her ambitious on-screen character was not too far removed from her real-life persona

Indeed, posing in new-season Gucci in the magazine, Lea looks nothing like the ugly duckling she describes - or her preppy, overambitious on-screen character.

But she admitted that Rachel Berry's zeal for success was not too far from her own real-life persona.

'I don’t stop. It’s my nature. People have to tell me to slow down,' she told the magazine. 'I plan on playing every role on Broadway... I want to do movies, make music. Glee is only the beginning.'

Her private life, in contrast is quiet. She told how she and boyfriend Theo Stockman shun the LA party scene in favour of quiet nights in.

'I have a small life,' she said. Aside for hanging out with her Glee castmates - 'I just want to be around them all day', she and her beau are most likely to be found cooking dinner and drinking wine on a typical evening.

She added that contrary to rumours, she's no diva.

'People have to remember this is all new for us,' she said. 'We’re all reasonably young, except for Cory [Monteith, 29], who’s old.'

'I’ve learned some lessons, but people are going to say what they want to say. I know who I am, and I’m not perfect.'