One of the all-time great internet theories about a celebrity is that Lea Michele, she of Glee and allegedly being a “nightmare” co-star fame, can’t read.
The rumor dates back to a 2017 episode of the One More Thing podcast in which hosts Jaye Hunt and Robert Ackerman highlighted a passage from late Glee star Naya Rivera’s book, Sorry Not Sorry. “[It] details how Michele refused to improvise scenes in Glee with veteran actor Tim Conway,” according to Jezebel. “Ackerman and Hunt took this tidbit to its most logical and fantastical conclusion, surmising that perhaps the reason Michele did not improvise is because she’s memorized her lines because [creator] Ryan Murphy has read them to her because… she can’t read.” They don’t actually believe that Michelle isn’t capable of reading or writing, but the rumor caught on, even taking the form of a since-deleted 40-minute video called, “Lea Michele Is Illiterate.”
Very good. No notes.
The theory came up during a New York Times profile of Michele, who replaced Beanie Feldstein in the Broadway revival of Funny Girl. “I went to Glee every single day; I knew my lines every single day,” she said. “And then there’s a rumor online that I can’t read or write? It’s sad. It really is. I think often if I were a man, a lot of this wouldn’t be the case.”
For any of the doubters out there, please enjoy this video of Lea Michele reading a book.
(Via the New York Times)