Lea Michele finally addresses conspiracy theory that claims she is illiterate

"And then there’s a rumour online that I can’t read or write? It’s sad. It really is."

The 36-year-old then claimed that the rumour boiled down to a case of everyday sexism in Hollywood.

She added: "I think often if I were a man, a lot of this wouldn’t be the case."

So, there you have it.

The rumour first took off in 2017, when fellow Glee star Naya Rivera wrote in her memoir that Michele refused to improvise during a scene.

The memoir was picked apart on the One More Thing podcast, with hosts Jaye Hunt and Robert Ackerman joking that Michele must not be able to read since she had never commented on Rivera’s claims in her book.

That then spawned a 40-minute long Facebook Live chat by the pair, which has since been taken down, in which the duo presented 'evidence' proving the theory that Michele was illiterate.

The rumour made its way to social media and thus the conspiracy theory was born.

Michele previously called the theory 'bizarre', and seemingly commented on the rumour in a now-deleted tweet from 2018.

She said: "Loved READING this tweet and wanted to WRITE you back. Literally laughing out loud at all this."

But it still seems to strike a nerve for the actor, who is set to star in the Broadway revival of Funny Girl after replacing Beanie Feldstein as Fanny Brice.

The 36-year-old also addressed previous claims that she is difficult to work with.

"That level of perfectionism, or that pressure of perfectionism, left me with a lot of blind spots."

The most prominent accusations against Michele were levied against her by fellow Glee star Samantha Ware.