Don’t bring around a cloud to rain on Lea Michele’s parade because she’s just under a week away from her debut as Fanny Brice in the Broadway revival of Funny Girl.
And Twitter has been abuzz this morning as The New York Times has published an interview with the star, one which touches everything from the show’s casting drama (Michele is stepping in for Beanie Feldstein, who made a highly scrutinized departure from the show earlier this summer) to the ongoing rumors and jokes that Michele doesn’t know how to read. So, yeah, it’s a doozy.
Of course, Fanny Brice is a role that’s been on Michele’s vision board for a while now, though she admits, “I will never be as good as Barbra Streisand.”
Related: ‘Who are you now?’ ‘Funny Girl’ and a Broadway revival’s identity crisis
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On Glee, her character Rachel Berry—a role Ryan Murphy wrote specifically for Michele, which feels pretty obvious—eventually nabbed the part in the fictional revival of the musical, closing a circle from season one, when Berry performed “Don’t Rain On My Parade” at Sectionals.
Murphy even had the rights to to a Funny Girl revival for a period of time, and wanted Michele for the part. Thus sufficiently blurring the line between the real person and the character. “It all kind of morphed together a little bit,” she admits.
But it’s impossible to discuss those parallels or Michele’s time on Glee without also addressing the storm of criticism and allegations against her that came to a head in 2020. Samantha Marie Ware (who had a recurring arc on the show’s sixth season) famously accused her of “traumatic microaggressions” as well as other threatening and demeaning behavior. Even Longtime co-star Heather Morris called her out for being disrespectful to her co-stars.
She was, by many accounts, a diva. And not the fun, glamorous kind.
Related: 5 celebrities who totally won’t be at Lea Michele’s ‘Funny Girl’ premiere
Michele, who published an apology to her Instagram in 2020, spoke vaguely with the Times about the claims, acknowledging that her intense working style has its faults:
“I have an edge to me,” she shared. “I work really hard. I leave no room for mistakes. That level of perfectionism, or that pressure of perfectionism, left me with a lot of blind spots.”
Blind spots! Well, sure, that’s one way to put it. Apparently this controlling, demanding, Rachel Berry-esque approach to her work was borne out of a childhood in the theater world, which pushed her to perform at exceedingly high levels and left her in a “semi-robotic state.”
In any event, the public reckoning certainly had an impact on Michele. After taking a break from acting to raise her son, she claims to come to Funny Girl with a better understanding of what it means to be the star: “I really understand the importance and value now of being a leader. It means not only going and doing a good job when the camera’s rolling, but also when it’s not. And that wasn’t always the most important thing for me.”
Thrust back into the center of attention, Michele also took the time to respond to another rumor that’s been swirling around the internet for the past few years: That she can’t read.
“I went to Glee every single day; I knew my lines every single day. 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.”
So there you have it! She showed up to set every day with her lines memorized and therefore she can read. No further explanation needed, we guess.
As is their wont, folks on Twitter have had a ball digging into every little detail of the Times feature. Here are just a few of our favorite reactions:
Lea Michele, sitting with all of her work friends. pic.twitter.com/tG1p4Gg1AQ
— Tyler Dwiggins ????? (@T_Dwiggs) September 1, 2022
knew ? read
many men famously do not read.lea michele, this is not a defense!
— alex (@alex_abads) September 1, 2022
also the fact that the rumors lea michele chose to address are the ones about she cant read and not the racist allegations or the ones about how she threatened to have people fired from a show when she was 12, etc. really shows where her priorities lie.
— mary? | #1 kurt stan (@kurtslimabean) September 1, 2022
personally my favorite thing about lea michele only just discovering that people think she can’t read is that it only makes me more convinced she can’t because, if she could read, she probably would have read this criticism fifty years ago
— the morally corrupt juan barquin (@woahitsjuanito) September 1, 2022
jonathan groff telling on ryan murphy for giving a messy toast after officiating lea michele's wedding…gleeks are eating GOOD today pic.twitter.com/m3MVcStTox
— Cole Delbyck (@coledelbyck) September 1, 2022
Rupaul: “BECAUSE READING IS WHAT?!”
Lea Michele:
— Félix (@flicklix) September 1, 2022
Lea Michele might be able to read but god can she not read the room
— gianmarco (@GianmarcoSoresi) September 1, 2022
When Lea Michele says the mobbish trolls of the Internet invented rumours of her illiteracy because she's a woman, and not because she threatened to shit in a coworker's wig, Lea Michele is wasting feminist energy on fully trying to gaslight you.
— Abby (@abbythetweet) September 1, 2022
Not Lea Michele using this old internet joke to portray herself as a victim in hope that people will focus on this and forget about her being a racist and a bully. Come on, girl. https://t.co/5nJpPme4Pd
— Gabs (@Demonlighter) September 1, 2022
it’s so funny to me how much lea michele despises the illiteracy meme. if it were me i’d find it the funniest shit ever. i’d run with it every day. i’d respond to the tweets like “my assistant read this to me and you’re not very nice :(”
— rachel tolleson (@redecorateradio) September 1, 2022
BEARY FLINTSTONE
LOL!!!!!! Girl go break a leg and learn from your mistakes! You’ll be fine.
Puckersnique
An article about toxic behavior from a website that refuses to NOT criticize constantly, refuses to NOT spread negativity and gossip, refuses to NOT infuse their articles with sarcasm and condescension, REFUSES to allow people to apologize, learn and grow…
Yeah, I’m out. I’ll get my lgbtq+ news elsewhere.
And that’s news…not hateful gossip by a bunch of people who aspire to be The Plastics in “Mean Girls” disguised as “news”.
LumpyPillows
LOL
Cam
I love the little Lea trolls that come in and try to claim that it’s the 500 people who’ve accused her who are liars, not her, AND claim that being called out for abuse, racism and bullying somehow makes her the victim.
Jim
“Perfectionist” are just people who are inconsiderate and self absorbed.
Let’s be clear. There is NO such thing as perfection.
DBMC
One of the accusations is that she threatened to defecate into a coworkers wig. in what way is that being a “perfectionist?”
LumpyPillows
@DMBC I think it is funny to have an article about illiteracy and you not be able to understand Jim’s comment.
dbmcvey
Hey Lump, I was just adding to it.
DannyParks
“So there you have it! She showed up to set every day with her lines memorized and therefore she can read. No further explanation needed, we guess.”
So the woman states she can read and write but you write a sarky comment to undermine it and continue nasty rumours her? Then seem to justify the need for this “article” by listing tweets / comments from other just as nasty trolls hell bent on being cruel to Lea just for the sake of it.
Considering the most of Queerty’s target audience have likely at some stage of their lives been the victims of bullying and abuse like this you would think the writers would write with a different approach. Is it any wonder the LGBT “community” are viewed so negatively by alot of the world with platforms like Queerty spending the stereotype that we’re all bitter, pathetic bitches?
The woman has had to make an official statement that she CAN read. Who has the right to question that or write a story arguing it?
I am by no means a die-hard fan of Lea and I don’t like stories I’ve heard in the past about her behavior but if she’s trying to learn and change let her. If it’s not affecting you life it is not you business!
cs1900
…speaking of illiteracy.
DannyParks
…speaking of bitter, pathetic bitches
DBMC
She threatened to defecate in a coworker’s wig.
LumpyPillows
You really have a thing abut poo in wigs…
Cam
Nasty rumors? Oh, you mean the MULTIPLE co-workers going all the way back to when she was 12 who said she was an abusive monster?
dbmcvey
Hey Lump. For someone so smug you should learn to read. And google.
DBMC
So, she just dismissed the accusations as her just “having an edge.” I’m sorry but when you read what people say she did it’s more than just getting snippy occasionally. It’s abusive behavior that should have gotten her fired.
Paris in Santiago
WELL. Now I want to shit in someone’s wig…
LumpyPillows
Sounds like something Bianca Del Rio would say. I mean who tells someone they’re going to shit in their wig and actually mean it? I mean a crazy person would just do it. I love how small-brained people fixate on this.
dbmcvey
Bianca Del Rio is actually a really nice person when out of character.
humble charlie
barbra streisand, at times, was a bitch, too. people complaining about lea being an ambitious bitch obviously have never been involved in a theatrical or movie production. these people aren’t ethical beings. they’re rapacious egotistical creatures.
beanie was miscast in the funny girl part. it wasn’t beanie’s fault. she is a very ambitious woman. she’ll recover from the embarassment. she should have just admitted that she wasn’t right for the part.
Kangol2
“Miscast” is putting it kindly!
LumpyPillows
Be a tough woman and you get attacked as being mean. Double standard? You bet.
dbmcvey
Not really. Men can’t get away with this behavior so much nowadays either.
Why are you defending her appalling and abusive behavior for which she has never apologized?
DarkZephyr
Blah blah blah Queerty. All I care about is that she is excellent at what she does, when I see her on my TV screen, I am entertained. Girl knows what she’s doing. That’s all that matters to me.
inbama
Lord, our LGTBQ+ media certainly dislike strong cis women.
Cam
Sweetie, it’s cute you think people don’t recognize this right wing troll screename.
inbama
@Cam
You have got to be the most tiresome one-note queen got ever created.
It’s a wonder you you haven’t bored yourself to death.
Kangol2
Are you joking? LGBTQ+ media LOVE certain strong cis women! Cf. Madonna, Lady Gaga, Rihanna, Beyoncé, etc. Defend Lea Michele all you want, which is your right, but the fact remains that complaints about her have followed her from her childhood career on. The pattern is clear as day, if you open your eyes.
LumpyPillows
Women do this to other women all the time. In fact, people like you have decided its time to come for Madonna. Yeah, there is something to this and you just don’t want to admit it.
dbmcvey
That’s completely untrue.
Toofie
She’ll be great. And Queerty will be petty.
andrewmpls
It’s why I’m here. lol
Cam
You have to love someone who claims that being a hard worker somehow explains abusing people and creating a hostile work environment for years and years. Doesn’t sound like she learned much.
inbama
The best of any artist is in their work whether it is on stage, screen, canvas or in print. Their personal lives are often a mess.
Gays used to be sophisticated enough to know that.
Kangol2
Please don’t speak for all gay people. What you seem not to grasp, though it isn’t that hard to understand, is that in the case of Lea Michele, it isn’t so much her “personal life” that people are complaining about as it is her behavior on set, i.e., what she was doing to people involved with her “stage, screen,” etc. life, meaning her career.
LumpyPillows
All evidence points to Lea acting like a diva. Not nice. Was she arguably the most talented person on the show? Yes. Should she have been nicer? Yes. Does she deserve to be cancelled? My opinion is no. You can disagree. You don’t get to be a jerk about it…which is exactly what you didn’t like about Lea. Be a better person.
dbmcvey
Hey Lumpylump, it was beyond “diva behavior” she was a bully and unprofessional. She’s never apologized and just claimed her appalling actions were because she’s a “perfectionist.”
Funny no one who worked with her, except a make up person, has come out to defend her.
Seth
Calling Lea Michelle out for abusive behavior to her colleagues is perfectly acceptable.
Dogpiling her because she can’t read is some petty, 7th-grade mean girl bullshit that’s every bit as toxic as the behavior they’re, supposedly, calling her out for.
Humanity is garbage.