- An online conspiracy saying Michele can’t read or write has circulated for years
- It’s existed since around 2017
- The Glee actress described it as “frustrating”
Lea Michele has hit back against the bizarre, yet unfounded, online rumour that she is illiterate.
The actress is best known for starring as diva-in-waiting Rachel Berry in Glee, which aired between 2009 and 2015. Later in the show’s life, a theory spread that she was unable to read or write.
Recalling the origin of the rumour, Michele told the Therapuss podcast that she first heard about it from Glee showrunner Ryan Murphy.
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“I’ll never forget, like the same day that all came out Donald Trump said he was going to punch John McCain in the face or something like that,” she said. “What was trending online more was: Lea Michele can’t read. Ryan Murphy called me and he was like, ‘Have you heard this rumour?’ And I was like, ‘No, what’s going on?’”
Earlier in the episode, she declared: “For everyone who thinks that I can’t f***ing read, I was on the debate team.”
“There are moments where I f***ing get so frustrated by it”
Teaser of Lea Michele proving she can read on Jake Shane’s ‘Therapuss’ podcast out tonight. pic.twitter.com/dZEYwevvTT
— Pop Crave (@PopCrave) May 7, 2025
Michele also discussed whether the rumour was annoying to her or not.
“It really depends on the day,” she explained. “Like 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 and their day that they would waste it on like me is hilarious to me.”
She added: “There are moments where I f***ing get so frustrated by it because I’m one of the only women in my whole family to get accepted to college”.
“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. So for someone to like, minimise that it’s so sad and so frustrating.”
How did the rumour start?
The origin lies with podcast hosts Jaye Hunt and Robert Ackerman, who came up with it based on a brief detail in co-star Naya Rivera’s 2016 memoir Sorry Not Sorry.
In the book, the late Rivera mentions that Michele refused to improvise on the set of Glee. Eventually, the overanalysis of this detail spun out of control and became a meme.
In 2018, she wrote a tweet, stating: “Loved READING this tweet and wanted to WRITE you back. Literally laughing out loud at all this love you!!!”
