Lea Michele addresses past rumors claiming she can't read

Days before her upcoming debut as Fanny Brice in Broadway's, Funny Girl, Lea Michele finally spoke about past rumors claiming she can't read.

Michele addressed a rumor that once circulated about her not being able to read or write in a recent article in the New York Times. (According to i-D, the online rumor traces back to a Facebook Live video made by podcasters in 2017, and due to several viral TikToks and social media threads in recent years pushed a conspiracy theory that Michele never learned to read, with people claiming to show "evidence.")

"I went to Glee every single day; I knew my lines every single day," Michele told 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."

Michele previously joked about the rumors when they bubbled up back in March 2018. She set the record straight with a sense of humor, tweeting to a fan who said she must be "laughing her head off right now" about it: "Loved READING this tweet and wanted to WRITE you back? literally laughing out loud at all this? love you!!! ? ❤️."