Ryan Murphy is the subject of an extensive profile in The Hollywood Reporter, where he reflects on the ups and downs of making Glee.

Murphy says he was "devastated" by how the show's behind-the-scenes drama played out—with cast members feuding, fleeing and partying out of control.

"I was there with them all day long, and then we'd finish work and we'd go out and have fun all night," he says. "I guess in a weird, twisted way, I was trying to relive the childhood I never had."

He also believes he misstepped when he tried to be a parental figure to the young actors.

"They didn't want me to tell them what to f**king do. They didn't want me to tell them how to treat each other, or what the world was like."

Murphy admits he wishes he could have handled his relationships with a lot of cast members differently.

"Some of them I'm still very close to—Lea Michele, Chord Overstreet, Darren Criss—but there were some that didn't work out well, and I regret that."

Michele must have had a good experience—she's currently appearing in Murphy's Scream Queens on Fox.

But the Glee strife included rumors of feuds between actors, as well as tension between Murphy and certain cast members, whose characters would seem to suddenly appear and disappear through a season.

And then there was the heartbreaking overdose of Cory Monteith.

"To this day, I'm devastated by everything that happened with that show," says the 49-year-old producer.

He hopes things will go better for Fox's newest musical series/cultural phenomenon.

"I look at the Empire cast and everything that's going on with them, and I'm just like, 'Don't do it. Keep it together.' And I think they have in the way that we never did."