Lea Michele jokes she has to learn to read before Barbra Streisand's memoir comes out

Emlyn Travis
·2 min read
Lea Michele jokes she has to learn to read before Barbra Streisand's memoir comes out

Lea Michele is getting the last laugh — at least when it comes to those pesky rumors that she can't read.

The Glee actress, who is currently starring in Funny Girl on Broadway, joked in a TikTok on Wednesday that she has only "265 days to learn to read" before Barbra Streisand's long-awaited memoir hits bookshelves this fall.

Set to the Rocky theme, the clip shows Michele excitedly covering her hand with her mouth before moving out of frame to reveal a screenshot announcing Streisand's upcoming book, My Name is Barbra, and its release date.

This isn't the first time Michele has leaned into the truly wild conspiracy theory that she's illiterate. After sharing her first TikTok last year, Michele posted a follow-up video in which she quipped that she would have to ask her best friend Jonathan Groff to "read me the comments" on the original.

As for Streisand's new book, Michele isn't the only one who might need to brush up on their reading-comprehension skills. The behemoth title clocks in at 1,040 pages and will feature the EGOT winner exploring "her own story about her life and extraordinary career, from growing up in Brooklyn to her first star-making appearances in New York nightclubs to her breakout performance in Funny Girl (musical and film) to the long string of successes in every medium in the years that followed," per the book's synopsis.

Lea Michele arrives for the world premiere of Universal Pictures' "Knock at the Cabin", at Jazz at Lincoln Centers Frederick P. Rose Hall in New York City on January 30, 2023.
Lea Michele arrives for the world premiere of Universal Pictures' "Knock at the Cabin", at Jazz at Lincoln Centers Frederick P. Rose Hall in New York City on January 30, 2023.

ANGELA WEISS/AFP via Getty Images Lea Michele jokes that she'll have to learn to read before Barbra Streisand's memoir is out.

Michele has cited Streisand as an inspiration throughout her career. Her Glee character, Rachel Berry, famously ended up starring as Streisand's Funny Girl character Fanny Brice in a Broadway production of it on the Fox series — a role Michele began performing last year. To celebrate the achievement, Michele said, Streisand wrote her a letter.

"It was very sweet," she said of the note on Late Night With Seth Meyers. "But one thing she said in it… She was like, 'It's really wonderful when your dreams come true, isn't it?' And I just, like, fell to my knees and I called Ryan Murphy, my mom, Jonathan Groff, and Michael Mayer."

My Name Is Barbra hits shelves Nov. 7.

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