Lea Michele Addresses Rumor She Can’t Read: ‘It’s a Crazy Thing’

Lea Michele is still contending with a rumor that she can’t read. In a new interview on the podcast Therapuss, hosted by Jake Shane, the actress reflected on the “crazy” rumor and offered proof, on video, that she is literate.

“For everyone who thinks that I can’t fucking read, I was on the debate team,” Michele told Shane. “I would write speeches.” He chimed in to ask, “You must think that rumor is hysterical, or does it actually piss you off?”

“It depends on the day,” she replied. “Sometimes I think it’s crazy that people care enough about me that they would make up something. That someone has so little to do in their life in their day that they would waste it on me is hilarious to me. And then there are moments where I fucking get so frustrated by it because I’m one of the only women in my whole family to get accepted to college.”

She continued, “You know, my mother and my mother’s whole family was extremely poor from the Bronx, not very well educated, and my parents moved me from the Bronx to New Jersey to get a good education and to thrive. And I did. And my parents and my family are so proud of that and it really was so important for my grandmother to see me. So for someone to minimize that is so sad and so frustrating. But, yeah, I don’t know it’s wild. It’s a crazy thing.”

She recalled her Glee boss calling her to tell her about the rumor in 2015. “Ryan Murphy called me and was like, ‘Have you heard this rumor?’” Michele said. “And I was like, ‘No, what’s going on!’”

The actress then grabbed Shane’s notecards and read them aloud, pretending not to know what one of the words was. She joked, “Oh my God, the theories. They’re going to be like, ‘Jake called her in advance. This doesn’t prove anything. She memorized it. She saw the cards in advance. This proves nothing.’”

She added that Jonathan Groff once did an interview where he was asked about the rumor. “Jonathan did a podcast that someone was like, ‘Can Lea read?’ and his response to me was so funny,” she recalled. “He was like ‘Do you really think she can’t? What the fuck does that say about you?’” Michele affirmed, “I have photographic memory, too. How do you think I memorized all those Rachel Berry speeches?” 

Michele, who absolutely can read, is currently out on tour. The actress is making eight stops across the United States and Canada for a series of intimate concerts, which kicked off in Durham, North Carolina, on May 5. Promising to take attendees “on a musical journey through Michele’s extraordinary career,” Michele will perform fan-favorite hits from her Glee days, a range of Broadway tunes — including from Funny Girl — and songs selected from her own discography.  

“After spending the past few months at home with my family and celebrating the joy of becoming a mother of two, I’m so excited to get back on the stage and perform live,” Michele said in a press announcement. “It will be an amazing night revisiting my time on Glee, singing songs from Funny Girl, and telling stories along the way.”