Lea Michele Debunks 'Wild' Conspiracy That She Can't Read

During an appearance on Thursday's episode of the Therapuss with Jake Shane podcast, the Glee alum addressed the "wild" years-long conspiracy theory that she can't read, which dates back to 2015 and claims she memorizes her lines after people read them out loud to her.

Michele, 38, detailed the moment she first learned about the rumor from Glee co-creator Ryan Murphy.

"I'll never forget the same day that that all came out," she recalled. "Donald Trump said he was gonna, like, punch John McCain in the face or something like that? It was 2015 and he said something so wild. But what was trending online more was, 'Lea Michele can't read.'"

"Ryan Murphy called me, and he was like, 'Have you heard this rumor?'" she continued. "And I was like, 'No, what's going on?' And yeah, the fact that we’re here all these years later."

The Broadway star then went on to definitively debunk the rumor herself by jokingly demanding Shane hand her his notecards.

"Give me the [notes]! I'm reading them!" Michele said, to which Shane laughed, "I'm sick! I'm sick!"

"Jonathan [Groff] is not here to read me this s--t!" she added, referring to her longtime friend.

Michele started to read a notecard out loud, which featured fan questions, before she then joked, asking Shane, "What does this word say?"

"And not a f--king stutter!" Shane said, laughing, after Michele finished reading the card.

The Scream Queens star jokingly noted that there would still be "theories" that Shane set it up and "called her in advance."

"'She saw the cards in advance! This proves nothing,'" she said mockingly.

Michele pointed out how Groff was previously asked about the conspiracy theory that she can't read on a podcast, recalling his "funny" reaction.

"Jonathan did a podcast, and someone was like, 'Can Lea read?' And his response to me was so funny," she said. "He was like, 'Do you really think she can't? What the f--k does that say about you?'"

While Michele didn't seem too fazed as she joked about the rumor, she did admit, on a serious note, that there have been "moments" when she finds the conspiracy theory "frustrating."

"It really depends on the day," she told Shane. "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 me is hilarious to me."

"And then there are moments where I f--king get so frustrated by it because I'm one of the only women in my whole family to get accepted to college," she continued. "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. It really was so important for my grandmother to see me, and so for someone to minimize that, it's so sad and so frustrating."

"But yeah, I don't know, it's wild," she added. "It's really wild. It's a crazy thing."

Michele has spoken out about the bizarre allegations in the past, including during an interview with The New York Times back in 2022.

"I went to Glee every single day; I knew my lines every single day," she said at the time.  "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."

Previously, she had appeared to poke fun at the rumor, responding to a fan who thought she was laughing over it via Twitter in 2020. In a since-deleted tweet, Michele wrote, "Loved READING this tweet and wanted to WRITE you back😛 literally laughing out loud at all this😂 love you!!! 😘❤️."