Lea Michele Addresses Rumor That She’s Illiterate

Lea Michele has addressed a conspiracy theory floating around online that she’s illiterate. 

“I went to Glee every single day; I knew my lines every single day,” Michele said in an interview with the New York Times. “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.” 

The rumor started in 2017 when Jaye Hunt and Robert Ackerman, hosts of the One More Thing podcast, delved into an excerpt from Naya Rivera’s book Sorry Not Sorry: Dreams, Mistakes, and Growing Up where she alleges actor Tim Conway suggested improvising scenes while filming Glee, but Michele refused and wanted to stick to her own lines. Hunt and Ackerman created a humorous slideshow which presented “evidence.” 

Unfortunately, the theory took hold and remains alive five years later. Michele, now 36, did try to dispel the claims at the time, responding in a since-deleted tweet, “Loved READING this tweet and wanted to WRITE you back. Literally laughing out loud at all this. Love you!!!” 

Earlier this month, Michele appeared in a YouTube video for the SAG-AFTRA Foundation’s Storyline Online series and read the Andrea Beaty-written children’s book Rosie Revere, Engineer aloud.