What is Lea Michele’s net worth? Fortune explored as Funny Girl actress mocks ‘illiterate’ conspiracy theory in latest TikTok

Lea Michele made an account on TikTok and she has already started posting memes.

The actress posted a video on her newly-made TikTok account, lipsyncing a scene from Keeping Up With The Kardashians with the caption saying:

"Calling Jonathan to read me the comments on my first TikTok"

The Jonathan in question is presumably Jonathan Groff, Michele's co-star from Spring Awakening.

By the looks of it, the Broadway star is mocking rumours about her being illiterate in the TikTok video. The rumours began when people found out that Michele hadn't attended college.

She shared that making a career in theater did not require her to get a college degree, but it did not equate to being illiterate. The Glee star is a successful theater and TV actress with an estimated net worth of $12 million.

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Lea Michele began her career at the young age of eight

Lea Michele began acting at a very young age. She auditioned for Les Misérables at the age of eight and got cast as the alternate for Young Cosette, Young Eponine, and the understudy for Gavroche. Following that, she was cast in musicals like Ragtime (1997-1999), Fiddler on the Roof (2004-2005), and Spring Awakening (2006-2008).

She was later cast in 2009 as Rachel Berry in the Ryan Murphy-created TV series Glee. The show was a hit, making Michele a household name for its 9.62 million viewers. Glee ran from 2009 to 2015, with Lea Michele reportedly receiving a salary of $80,000 per episode. Additionally, she received numerous awards for playing the show's female lead.

Lea Michele made her big screen debut in 2011, with the movie New Year’s Eve, alongside actors like Sarah Jessica Parker, Jessica Biel, and Ashton Kutcher. The movie was a hit, grossing over $142 million at the worldwide box office.

After Glee wrapped up, Michele went on to work on shows like Scream Queens, The Mayor and later joined the cast of Funny Girl.

Michele has also recorded four studio albums. Her first album, Louder, was released in 2014 and sold over 62k copies nationwide. She later released Places (2017), Christmas in the City (2019) and Forever (2021).

She has also published two books, Brunette Ambition and You First: Journal Your Way to Your Best Life, both releasing in 2014. Brunette Ambition was listed at number three position on the New York Times Best Seller List.

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The rumors regarding Lea Michele being illiterate began in 2018

Fake news about the Glee star being illiterate surfaced from a 2018 video, 'Lea Michele Is Illiterate'. The 40-minute video was created by Jaye Hunt and Robert Ackerman for their podcast One More Thing.

The entire theory was created as a joke but evolved into a rumor after landing on different social media platforms. Netizens started creating their very own conspiracy theories based on various incidents and images.

They believed that the actress could not read or write anything because she never attended school. They also claimed that she could not give autographs because of her inability to write.

Lea shut down these rumors time and again, explaining that she was homeschooled and has read and memorized thousands of scenes while working in theater and screen. She even read a book for SAG-AFTRA Foundation’s Storyline Online series on August 8, 2022, thus herself debunking all the rumours circulating.