Lea Michele
Appearances
Therapuss with Jake Shane
Session 71: Lea Michele
Now, I didn't think it was going to be what it became.
Therapuss with Jake Shane
Session 71: Lea Michele
I was at the beginning. And I wrote you. And I was sending your videos to everyone I knew. This is the funniest person I have seen in years. There are certain people who tickle my funny bone and make me laugh. It's like... Will Ferrell, Kristen Wiig, and you. Stop. Whatever you do. I was trying to think of my top three. I remember when you did Baby Moses going down on the stream.
Therapuss with Jake Shane
Session 71: Lea Michele
But I think we all knew at that point. Like, I remember being in my apartment and finding out that we got picked up. And we were like, okay. Like, this is it.
Therapuss with Jake Shane
Session 71: Lea Michele
pilot and I was back in New York and I think that Jenna Ashkowitz was at my apartment and we got the email that was like we got the 13 for season one right and we were like okay like we're going to New York like we're going to LA like this is it that's crazy and then we got the back nine right because there was a dub there was that there was like a yeah that season was long like I always think the end of season one Jonathan had to remind me the other day I think the end of season one is don't rain on my parade but it's not it's faithfully
Therapuss with Jake Shane
Session 71: Lea Michele
Faithfully. So the other day, so Jonathan sends me like a screenshot of Spotify. He's listening to Faithfully.
Therapuss with Jake Shane
Session 71: Lea Michele
And I was like, oh, you know, he was like, I just am thinking of you in that gold dress.
Therapuss with Jake Shane
Session 71: Lea Michele
And I was like, oh i remember we were all like that was a wild day on set i thought i said to him i was like oh yeah the end of season two and he was like no it's the end of season one i was like oh my god thank you for schooling me on glee right it was regionals right that i don't know like that i don't that's a blur to me right regionals nationals i think it goes sectionals regionals nationals
Therapuss with Jake Shane
Session 71: Lea Michele
just school me right now and tell me everything. I've not rewatched like anything. I went through, John and I went through a phase where we would get like drunk and then we would watch Glee. We would like late at night at like 2 a.m. be like, let's put it on. We'd be like, what do we want to watch?
Therapuss with Jake Shane
Session 71: Lea Michele
And we would like pick like the random musical numbers or whatever and we would like watch just like bits. But like my husband has never seen Glee.
Therapuss with Jake Shane
Session 71: Lea Michele
But we were like, you know, in each other's lives at that point. But also iconic for sure. Yeah. But no, he's never seen Glee.
Therapuss with Jake Shane
Session 71: Lea Michele
I know. I forgot what someone was saying the other day. And he was like, maybe I need to like watch it.
Therapuss with Jake Shane
Session 71: Lea Michele
No, I mean, you know, thank you for saying that. It's true. I think so too.
Therapuss with Jake Shane
Session 71: Lea Michele
Are you, do you feel like you're Rachel or do you feel like Kurt? Oh, I'm Rachel. You're Rachel.
Therapuss with Jake Shane
Session 71: Lea Michele
I literally will never forget in the pilot the first time I walked down that hallway. And when she's storming down the hallway. She's always storming down the hallway. But it was the first time I did it. And Ryan like gave me a direction, but it was just like, I just knew what to do. I was like, no, I've done this before. Like I know what to do here.
Therapuss with Jake Shane
Session 71: Lea Michele
And I think that that's like, you know, that's why it's like you love her or you hate her. And it's a very strong energy to have around you. And I guess I'm similar.
Therapuss with Jake Shane
Session 71: Lea Michele
anybody in this world who is confident in what they like and love like you're never going to be in between on them because they're not pandering to any sort of side but if she knows you and loves you there is no one that is like a greater stronger friend and like for me the people that I'm like very close within my life like I'll like do anything for those people that are like my core people in my life do you which you're now in I
Therapuss with Jake Shane
Session 71: Lea Michele
Oh, my God. Maybe we need to do a Glee reunion at Radio City just for you. Well, this makes up for it immensely. That was a wild... Yeah, that was... We did that tour... First, we did a mall tour. Why? Where we went to Hot Topics. Do you know what that is? Yes, I know Hot Topics. I used to buy Twilight merch. Right. So we would buy Twilight shirts and wear them at the Hot Topic tour.
Therapuss with Jake Shane
Session 71: Lea Michele
So that was the first thing we did. Before it was even on the air, we were doing Hot Topic tours. Oh, really? Yeah. And then we did a small little appearance thing in Australia. Yeah. And then we did our first. So we would film 22 episodes, record hundreds of songs, learn thousands of dance numbers, and then finish filming and within days go on tour immediately. That's insane. It was insane.
Therapuss with Jake Shane
Session 71: Lea Michele
It was fucking hold on tight. Like don't have to like eat. Don't have to sleep. Don't have to poop. Like just when they need you, they need you. And if you're not filming, you were recording. If you weren't recording, you were in dance rehearsal. If you weren't in dance rehearsal, you were filming. If you weren't filming, you were in a fitting. You were always doing something.
Therapuss with Jake Shane
Session 71: Lea Michele
It was raining? Yes. That was unbelievable. It's like true genius. It's like you are... I think all people who are funny, like, are geniuses. And you have to be, like, you have to be so smart. And you're so smart and funny together. And, like, oh, my God. Like, you brought me such joy.
Therapuss with Jake Shane
Session 71: Lea Michele
And it was unbelievable. Like, it was extremely hard for, I mean, everyone. The fact that, yeah, we managed to put it all together and so well. I think that it was truly for the love, and I can't speak for everyone here, but I really believe that it was just for the love of what we knew we were doing and how important it was. Right.
Therapuss with Jake Shane
Session 71: Lea Michele
Whether or not we all liked each other or whatever was going on, whether it was a day we loved each other or a day we didn't love each other or a day that someone was going through something or we just knew that this was so important. I mean, again, that that for me was one of the things that kept me going. Right. However tired we were.
Therapuss with Jake Shane
Session 71: Lea Michele
This is where my memory like doesn't serve me. And there are other people on the show that are probably like screaming, being like, it was this number. Why can't you remember? Um, I think we had certain directors that would take a really long time. And then, of course, when Ryan would come, Ryan would know exactly what he wanted and it would be like great.
Therapuss with Jake Shane
Session 71: Lea Michele
Obviously, when you're dealing with a number like we found love in a hopeless place where we're in a pool. Right. And we're doing synchronized swimming like that's going to take forever. Yeah. I do remember now the I think it was Michael Jackson episode and we were in a parking lot and it was late at night. And that was the first night that I was like, I cannot do this. Right. I need to leave.
Therapuss with Jake Shane
Session 71: Lea Michele
Right. Like I have I'm going to leave. Right. I'm dying. I'm so tired. Right. That for me stands out as one where I was like, it was just taking so long and it was so late at night and we were really, really tired.
Therapuss with Jake Shane
Session 71: Lea Michele
I think there were numbers like that, but then there were numbers that whenever there was an element to it, like the singing in the rain where it's like raining, stuff like that would just always be hard when you're dealing with an element on top of just having to sing and dance. Right.
Therapuss with Jake Shane
Session 71: Lea Michele
And the nationals and sectionals and regionals always took the longest.
Therapuss with Jake Shane
Session 71: Lea Michele
I love that so much. I remember that day like it was yesterday. I literally remember... So I think it had been at that time. So we ended up doing 800 musical numbers that day. Maybe we'd hit 500 and they had every number on. I've never told anyone the story before they were shooting. What are those like the little like if it's like Powerball, those like balls, what are those called?
Therapuss with Jake Shane
Session 71: Lea Michele
You know, it's like these are the numbers. If you win like like bingo balls. Yeah, but like little light whatever balls. That's the best I can do. Yeah. And they were like shooting them out with like a gun. Okay. And on each ball was a name of a song. And they shot out like 500 in the auditorium.
Therapuss with Jake Shane
Session 71: Lea Michele
Just to be like, yay, we did 500 numbers. Yeah. Catch a little fucking ball. I don't know. I actually stepped outside because I was like, I needed like a minute. And Corey walked outside and he was like, look what I got. He's like, I just randomly picked a ball off the floor and it was don't rain on my parade.
Therapuss with Jake Shane
Session 71: Lea Michele
And funny enough, like I have so many special things from the show, but that I will never let go of that little fucking whatever you want to call it ball. Oh, yeah. It's so like so like it's funny how some things I remember so clearly and then other things I have no memory of whatsoever.
Therapuss with Jake Shane
Session 71: Lea Michele
But I think that like that has to do with when things were like really intense or when, you know, it was a little bit of a not so intense time on the show.
Therapuss with Jake Shane
Session 71: Lea Michele
Of course. And there were no rules. Everyone was figuring it out as we were going like. It's not like the people who created the show were like, we have a formula and we know how to do this where everyone feels supported and, you know, has protection. It's like it was everyone was kind of figuring it out. Right. And we were so young and we were, you know, what I think I started when I was 22.
Therapuss with Jake Shane
Session 71: Lea Michele
Oh, my God. You know, and I and I ended when I was 27, maybe 20.
Therapuss with Jake Shane
Session 71: Lea Michele
yeah i don't know i'm 28 now it's like how am i how are you even supposed to do this kind of math um but no i'm 38 and proud of it um but yeah sorry continue no i just yeah it's just we were so young we really were and do you remember like was there ever like did life imitate art in the sense that like was anyone ever fighting for a song Not that I can remember.
Therapuss with Jake Shane
Session 71: Lea Michele
I do know that it was very clear when you would hear a song on the radio, you would be like, that's going to be in a script next week and you're going to get it.
Therapuss with Jake Shane
Session 71: Lea Michele
It was very clear who would get what songs based on the artists of the time. So I don't remember, but I remember I would hear a song on the radio and be like, oh, I hope that that song is going to be on the show. But we were doing so much that, like, I never felt – like, I felt very, like, satiated in that I was doing a lot of different stuff. Right.
Therapuss with Jake Shane
Session 71: Lea Michele
I'm so excited. I'm so excited to chat and be with you. Yes. Great.
Therapuss with Jake Shane
Session 71: Lea Michele
Yeah. Yeah. Like, cranked up on fucking who knows what. Right. Like, crazy.
Therapuss with Jake Shane
Session 71: Lea Michele
We were on tour. Right. So we did a tour in between almost every season of the show. Right. Except for maybe the last... Three or four. Right. Because we did, like I said, the Hot Topic tour, the Australia tour, the Radio City run, and then the worldwide one.
Therapuss with Jake Shane
Session 71: Lea Michele
And then there was the 3D movie. Yeah, yeah. So every break we had something. Right. And we were always working. So- It was never like, oh, and now I'm going to go. I mean, maybe we would go away for a little while and I would come here and I would go back home and always felt so safe. Like the city is like the best place to come back to. But it was very different. Life was very different.
Therapuss with Jake Shane
Session 71: Lea Michele
I mean, I had a tour bus that would go past my house in West Hollywood and you would hear it. I'd be in the house and be like, Lea Michele, Rachel Berry on Glee. And then it would be like I would hear Don't Rain on My Parade playing while I'm sitting in my living room.
Therapuss with Jake Shane
Session 71: Lea Michele
And then fast forward like four years later, I bought a house like so high up in a canyon, far, far, far, like deep in Pacific Palisades because I was like, I have to get out of West Hollywood.
Therapuss with Jake Shane
Session 71: Lea Michele
Yes, and this is also... There was also a tour bus that used to drive by my house. My publicist will probably want to cut this. But it was the tour of people that have died. And after everything happened, this bus would come by. It was like the, you know, whatever, Hollywood tragedy tour bus. And here I was, 26 years old, and this tour bus would go by my house. And every day I would hear, like...
Therapuss with Jake Shane
Session 71: Lea Michele
I'm doing sort of... So it's going to be like my life from when I started working when I was eight years old. We do like Broadway stuff. And then we go into a little Glee memory lane. And then I'm going to do some songs from my albums also. But yes, I have like a big Glee section. Because it was such an important part of my life. And we did such great music on the show.
Therapuss with Jake Shane
Session 71: Lea Michele
these are the details and blah, blah, blah, blah, blah. And like eerie music would be playing from the tour bus. And there I was just at home. Everyone should see the shocked faces of everyone behind the camera.
Therapuss with Jake Shane
Session 71: Lea Michele
This explains a lot. No, no. But it's yeah, it was so sad. It was so, so depressing.
Therapuss with Jake Shane
Session 71: Lea Michele
Well, I was 26. No one handed me a guidebook. I was like, it was a fast education on more stuff than I could ever even process. But also, you know, if we didn't show up for work, then people wouldn't have work to go to. Of course. And that was a lot of pressure for me. And so I had to put my stuff aside and just show up so that everybody could continue to work.
Therapuss with Jake Shane
Session 71: Lea Michele
I think it really fractured so much. I mean, again, I can't speak for everyone. I think that maybe in some ways it did for certain people. But I think that it was – for me, it was so hard to – Like I just completely broke like I was in a really one track mind of just like doing my job. It was way too much to try to process at such a young age.
Therapuss with Jake Shane
Session 71: Lea Michele
But I'm very grateful for everyone there, whether or not they know it like. I personally felt a lot of support and from everybody in the building, like helping me to get through, especially from the crew, like the people that would be behind the camera every day. Like I would be looking at the camera, but looking at the person behind it, our incredible crew members, um,
Therapuss with Jake Shane
Session 71: Lea Michele
everyone everyone that held a camera sound like lighting like I was like looking at those people like they were holding me up so much as well as you know the people that were on the show but a lot of people were gone also by then which was hard right I'm so sorry thank you
Therapuss with Jake Shane
Session 71: Lea Michele
for saying that i don't really talk about this very much i know you don't but i feel like you're you get it like you love the show like you truly love glee yeah glee like changed my life like it changed mine too and changed a lot of people's lives and i think that like i said i for me i despite all of this you know i really look back on it and and look back at rachel as a
Therapuss with Jake Shane
Session 71: Lea Michele
just someone someone and something so special to me so grateful that you are like talking about everything with me I feel so honored you know I yeah I I had my daughter in August I'm a mom I have two kids now and um I just feel like especially after having my second baby, I had my son during the pandemic. It was a really intense time in the world. It was a really hard pregnancy for me.
Therapuss with Jake Shane
Session 71: Lea Michele
A lot of scary stuff happened. So I was like living in a lot of like.
Therapuss with Jake Shane
Session 71: Lea Michele
during that time as the whole world was and obviously having him was like it changed my life like it it broke me open but like having my daughter and it was such a beautiful experience like I finished funny girl I got pregnant I tried and tried to get pregnant I couldn't and I finally did and it was a girl and I really feel like my son is
Therapuss with Jake Shane
Session 71: Lea Michele
And I think that a lot of people... Now also it's like Glee always is recycling through new generations and there is such a pull towards Glee and people really want to hear those songs and reminisce and kind of go back to the feeling that they felt of when they watched the show.
Therapuss with Jake Shane
Session 71: Lea Michele
like I don't know how to explain it, but it's like he sort of like saved me and he changed me in so many ways and helped me learn and grow. But that was like a growth thing. My daughter, I just feel like she's like sunshine.
Therapuss with Jake Shane
Session 71: Lea Michele
Cheers. Eyes. Yes. I don't drink like alcohol anymore also, which is like so annoying.
Therapuss with Jake Shane
Session 71: Lea Michele
Okay. Which is like what you should do before you get pregnant. Of course. But it's just kind of like continued. But it's like I'm feeling so great.
Therapuss with Jake Shane
Session 71: Lea Michele
I'll have like a little like my husband and I like I had a little champagne on my anniversary, but like totally like so much less.
Therapuss with Jake Shane
Session 71: Lea Michele
Yeah. Sorry. Congratulations. Party Leah. No more.
Therapuss with Jake Shane
Session 71: Lea Michele
I love a good, you know, I've never done drugs in my life. But no, but I would like love a nice little drink. But yeah, they say it's like bad for you now.
Therapuss with Jake Shane
Session 71: Lea Michele
Cheers to killing your spirit. OK, let's get back on track.
Therapuss with Jake Shane
Session 71: Lea Michele
I mean, look, I love Roots Before Branches. Like Adam and his wife, Nikki Anders, who I love so much, wrote this beautiful song. It was an original song for the show. What? It was? Yeah, that wasn't like a song on the radio. They wrote that for the show. They needed like a song for Rachel to sing. It was when we started incorporating more... Original songs. Right.
Therapuss with Jake Shane
Session 71: Lea Michele
So like Get It Right is an original song. Loser Like Me. Loser Like Me. Roots Before Branches. But then it was also like people love like my headband. Yes. They love Only Child. They love like my cup. Like I'll be doing concerts and they'll be like, do my headband. And I'll be like. That will trigger me back to the mental institution.
Therapuss with Jake Shane
Session 71: Lea Michele
Well, if you're watching this scene with the song, then it's like... I mean, they're in the car and he's like, you have to go. And we like we were like practicing those like lines like at home before work. It was I was devastated. I was like, I don't want to do this. Yeah. And then like getting on the train and going to New York. I remember it all.
Therapuss with Jake Shane
Session 71: Lea Michele
Yeah, I mean, like, maybe around then, but I think the last few, like, the last season, like, some of it got a little, like... Wonky. Yeah, the puppets, the gas leak, and I think Carrot Top was there for a minute for something. Yes, he was. Like, those for me, I'm like, am I dreaming?
Therapuss with Jake Shane
Session 71: Lea Michele
Did that really happen? Right. Like, did I really do that? Because at that point, I was so, like... You know, it was so hard. Right. So that's when it got for me. I was a little like, what are we doing? Right. What is going on? But apparently now people are saying, too, that like even in those episodes, it's like, yeah, we love it. Yeah. Everyone's just like it's camp. It's everything.
Therapuss with Jake Shane
Session 71: Lea Michele
Oh, vitamin D. Yeah, yeah. Duh. I loved that. We all drank, or I don't know if everyone did, but Red Bull. We were like, let's drink a lot of Red Bull and do this number. And we were, like, it felt like the girls were competing with the boys on, like, whose number could be, like, better and more, like, manic and crazy. And then we did it on tour. Yes. We did Walking on Sunshine at Radio City.
Therapuss with Jake Shane
Session 71: Lea Michele
You wouldn't know. My dad ruined your life after that. Life just really...
Therapuss with Jake Shane
Session 71: Lea Michele
Imagine if you'd gone, that was like a butterfly effect. You could have gone.
Therapuss with Jake Shane
Session 71: Lea Michele
Oh, so many. Like for me, Kate Hudson working with Kate was the best. She became a really good friend to me and like a lifeline and that I love Kate forever and her family. So working with Kate, singing with her, like Almost Famous is my favorite movie of all time. So that was like major. And I met her, and she was so kind.
Therapuss with Jake Shane
Session 71: Lea Michele
And I don't know what I was expecting, but she's such a girl's girl, and she's the greatest. So Kate, watching her sing and dance and her energy, she glows from within. She is such an icon, and I love her. And so Kate was number one.
Therapuss with Jake Shane
Session 71: Lea Michele
Love Adina. I can't like talk enough about my love for Adina. I would go to – when Adina was in Wicked and I was in Spring Awakening, I would find out that Adina would go and do Bikram yoga in between shows on Wednesdays. So I would then go to Bikram yoga, just happen to be there in the same class that Adina was and would be like stretching and be like – Hi, Adina. Like, how are you?
Therapuss with Jake Shane
Session 71: Lea Michele
I wonder if it's going to be what I'm thinking. So I have one in my head.
Therapuss with Jake Shane
Session 71: Lea Michele
Like, a crazy, crazy fan. Like, I went to the stage door of Wicked. Like, love her. Love Kristen, too. I mean, don't even get me started about Kristen. She is, like, a rock. And I literally love her. And I have, to this day, like, if I need advice about anything, I call Kristen. Really? And she, like, gives the best advice. And she always picks up the phone. And she is wonderful.
Therapuss with Jake Shane
Session 71: Lea Michele
Adina, for me, though, like... I wanted to be Elphaba and like, I just always looked up to her and rent. I wanted to be Maureen. Like I was so obsessed with her. And so the fact that she came on and she played my mom, it was wild. It was so wild. And she, you know, she said to me at the time, she was like, are you like, are you realizing like what's happening here? Like, are you appreciating this?
Therapuss with Jake Shane
Session 71: Lea Michele
OK, wait. I know the name of the band. The song is called. OK, go.
Therapuss with Jake Shane
Session 71: Lea Michele
Like she was trying to get me to kind of like stop. and like really like look. And I was like, of course I am like, but I'm so tired. Like I'm too tired to even like, but I look back on it now. And I was like, I really wasn't, you know, like I really wasn't stopping and like looking around and being like, I think in order to survive, I needed to have such blinders on.
Therapuss with Jake Shane
Session 71: Lea Michele
But she was really trying to give me such good advice. But I just loved working with her. And she's such an amazing person. Just recently... She did a favor for me and she left a voicemail for my son as Elsa because I freeze his toys in ice and leave them in his room. And I tell him Elsa came and froze his toys. That's really sweet. And I play like let it go. And I'm like Elsa came again.
Therapuss with Jake Shane
Session 71: Lea Michele
I'm going to like break this ice. And he like loves it. And so then she was so sweet and she left her voice and she's like, hi, Ever. It's Elsa. Yeah. And she like sang, let it go. And it was like the kindest, kindest thing. So go see Redwood and go Adina. Wow.
Therapuss with Jake Shane
Session 71: Lea Michele
We are. Oh, my. That was the one for me too. It was like, okay. So I love this. Yeah. Okay. That was the one, like anyone that's on Glee, like any cast member will tell you like that for us too. We had all of these moments where we were like, whoa, like we're at the white house. Like we're on Oprah. Right. But it was so funny.
Therapuss with Jake Shane
Session 71: Lea Michele
I'm like leaving you like. Speechless? Like, yeah, a little.
Therapuss with Jake Shane
Session 71: Lea Michele
Maybe like on the tours, there was more opportunity to do that because when we were filming, it was so chaotic. But I have one memory that comes of we were playing Madison Square Garden. Like this will make me cry. Like I'm from New York. Like I'm a New Yorker. Jenna was also from New York and we we bought like New York Yankees hats and like our dads are like real New Yorkers.
Therapuss with Jake Shane
Session 71: Lea Michele
And like when we did Jay-Z, Alicia Keys, the New York number, like we walked out like with our New York caps on and we were like. We made it. Look at this. We are at this venue that for us as New Yorkers, it doesn't get any more iconic. For me, it was even more than Radio City. And I remember looking out and wearing that New York cap and being like, whoa. Yeah.
Therapuss with Jake Shane
Session 71: Lea Michele
And really soaking it in in that moment. I have a few like that, but that was definitely one of them.
Therapuss with Jake Shane
Session 71: Lea Michele
Filming was too much. Yeah. Like you never had the time to stop. Right. You know, but of course, like I remember Oprah. I remember the White House, like things like that were moments where we were like.
Therapuss with Jake Shane
Session 71: Lea Michele
oh my god right whoa we're here right you know and then all of the awards and all of that was also so crazy wasn't there um it wasn't was it it was the it was the emmys you did some you did an opening yeah it was the emmys right yeah we did the whole opening number with tina fey and like john ham and jimmy fallon i think did it too yeah and the cast of glee that's like so crazy like actually insane yeah what when what did you guys think of like the term gleek
Therapuss with Jake Shane
Session 71: Lea Michele
Love. Yeah, like you're a Gleek, like Gleek of the Week. I wanted to be Gleek of the Week so fucking badly. Darren literally texts me all the time. He's like, Gleek of the Week, like, how are you? Like, literally, like, we always talk about Gleek of the Week. I'm obsessed. Yeah. No, it was like, look, doing this on your head. It was like everywhere, like... Yeah, that was it. Like, oh, my God.
Therapuss with Jake Shane
Session 71: Lea Michele
It's going to be a trilogy. Like, of course. There's too much to say. That's wild. What was that like? Crazy. Like, you know, there were talks of me doing Funny Girl in 2014, I think it was. But it was right after everything happened and I was totally not in the right headspace. It would have meant that I could only do it for like three months on Broadway in between seasons of Glee. Got it.
Therapuss with Jake Shane
Session 71: Lea Michele
And I was like, again full on adrenaline like crazy mode and I'm grateful that I had the wherewithal in my brain to know that it was not the right thing to do at that time and so that door closed and I was like maybe it'll come again like if it's meant to it it will and But I also at that time we were doing so much Funny Girl on Glee that I felt, again, like super satiated.
Therapuss with Jake Shane
Session 71: Lea Michele
Like when that happened, because fun was like an incredible band and great, but we did the song. Our song went to number one and then their song also went to like number one afterwards. And then their band like blew up. Right. And a lot of it had to do with our show. And that's when we were like, OK, wait a minute. Like we're the waves of glee are like hitting us.
Therapuss with Jake Shane
Session 71: Lea Michele
Like I was really given such great material. I was very, very fortunate and very privileged in the experience of Glee that I got to do a lot of really great stuff. I'm not blind to that. And doing literally all of Funny Girl on television was awesome. So it didn't feel so hard letting it go at that time. And then I heard rumors that it was coming back.
Therapuss with Jake Shane
Session 71: Lea Michele
And at that point, I was really wanting to do it. It was sometime around 2018. Yeah, 2018. Mm-hmm. And I was like, well, I'm out guys. So see ya. So I got pregnant. I was so happy to be pregnant that again, I was like, okay, this wasn't meant to be like, I'm going to go watch a Dean and do it. And like, I'm going to have the time of my life. Like, you know, that's, it's going to be amazing.
Therapuss with Jake Shane
Session 71: Lea Michele
And when I found out that it was going to be, you know, coming and how it was happening, I was like, this is amazing. I'm so happy that funny girl is coming to Broadway. And, um, you know, my journey of doing it was only meant to be on Glee. And like, that's beautiful. And I was very grateful for that. I went and I saw the show. I loved it.
Therapuss with Jake Shane
Session 71: Lea Michele
Like I cried, you know, seeing these songs being sung on stage. And when I started to hear of, you know, potentially like coming into the show, I don't think I like even like grasped it because I had been kind of like possibly happening at so many points in my life until it was like, no, can you do it in four weeks? Yeah. And I was like, what?
Therapuss with Jake Shane
Session 71: Lea Michele
I was at the park with my son staring at the Statue of Liberty exactly where Barbra Streisand rides on the boat while singing Don't Rain on My Parade. And I was like, okay. And I turned to my husband at the park. I hadn't been on Broadway in 15 years. And I was like, can we do this? And he was like, I've got you. Go and do this. And he's the greatest man.
Therapuss with Jake Shane
Session 71: Lea Michele
And if it wasn't for his support, that's a whole other... That's another part of the book. And I was like, okay. Because... We had no playbook on how our family would kind of, you know. And I just dove right in. It was like I just knew what to do. And the same thing happened. But for some reason I was singing it differently than I did it on Glee. And I was doing it differently than it was on Glee.
Therapuss with Jake Shane
Session 71: Lea Michele
I felt like I had... so much more to access now that I was a wife, now that I was a mother. And what I learned in the whole experience was that the universe wanted me to wait until I was married and until I had a child to truly understand Fanny's pull of not, of, of between love and fame.
Therapuss with Jake Shane
Session 71: Lea Michele
And until I could learn that as a person, I wasn't supposed to play Fanny Bryce and, And I was the only person to play her on the stage to ever be a mom. Wow. And, like, Barbara had her son in between the show and the movie. But to play Fanny as a mother, like, it was, you know, I just needed that growth and that understanding. Right.
Therapuss with Jake Shane
Session 71: Lea Michele
I prepared and prepared quietly in a studio all by myself with our director and our assistant director, um, who gave me so much support and freedom. I remember coming in and Michael Mayer, who's the director who I've known since I'm 13 years old, literally doing spring awakening together. Um, he was like, I just want you to, what, what comes from like here? Um, And I was like, are you ready?
Therapuss with Jake Shane
Session 71: Lea Michele
I was like, sit down. And I was like climbing on ladders and jumping off things. I was like, this is what I want to do. And if we can't do it like this, then I don't want to do it. And he was like, we will do it like that. And they had to relight the show and restage parts of the show.
Therapuss with Jake Shane
Session 71: Lea Michele
And the cast who had already worked so hard came back, did a whole other rehearsal process with me, a lighting, everything. And then I opened the show and I did it. And the greatest cast in the whole world, the most unbelievable support from that cast of Funny Girl from day one until the end, like they were so incredible, just opening their arms and their hearts to me.
Therapuss with Jake Shane
Session 71: Lea Michele
television and now music and then you know kids and and and families like the ripple effect of what glee was doing it was in that moment where we were like okay this isn't just some like incredible like moment right this is like really making waves right and that song was so great it was what i'm not doing that on tour but maybe i should well aren't you doing surprise songs as well i'm doing what would rachel berry do now
Therapuss with Jake Shane
Session 71: Lea Michele
It was the greatest professional experience that I've ever had in my life. I'm grateful to look back and like have the best memories with on stage and off. And I just loved it. It was unbelievable. My last night was crazy. Like it was just like I got really hard. Like, you know, I don't think the adrenaline faded by like six months in and I started to really feel like what it felt like.
Therapuss with Jake Shane
Session 71: Lea Michele
My body hadn't done anything like that in a really long time. Um, you know, I, like I found that I had endometriosis halfway through and I was trying to get pregnant and I couldn't, and I had a lot of losses and you know, my, I'm older than I was when I was on Broadway before and I'm taking care of, my son was in the hospital, you know, halfway through the run as well.
Therapuss with Jake Shane
Session 71: Lea Michele
And it's like life, life is happening while you're doing it and you need to show up and you need to do your best every night. And the people that are sitting in the audience, they don't know, they don't care. Um, You know, I mean, not that they don't care, but they don't know. They don't know. And they just want to see you do a great job and as they should, you know.
Therapuss with Jake Shane
Session 71: Lea Michele
But it was it got very hard and I really started to miss, you know, my son started to get like, you know, when are you coming home?
Therapuss with Jake Shane
Session 71: Lea Michele
And so it was just it was time and it was perfect. And it was unbelievable that last night. And I'm still just on such a high from it.
Therapuss with Jake Shane
Session 71: Lea Michele
I'm a funny girl. I did seven shows. Um, but the tip of the norm is, is eight shows a week.
Therapuss with Jake Shane
Session 71: Lea Michele
I think that like when you're looking at a show like Glee, it's pretty similar and just in the intensity. What gets really hard for me with Broadway is it's just the same material over and over again. At least with television, like you might be exhausted, but you're always having to sink your teeth into something new.
Therapuss with Jake Shane
Session 71: Lea Michele
With Broadway, it's like, okay, how am I going to now make this exciting for myself and exciting for the audience every night when you're doing the same thing over and over again? So that for me starts to get really hard.
Therapuss with Jake Shane
Session 71: Lea Michele
Just the repetition. right right but they're both very hard i can't even imagine do you ever think you would go back to broadway again definitely yeah look i'm i'd never planned on coming back to new york but i told you before we started that during the pandemic like my husband and i moved back here and i had no idea what what i was gonna do i i didn't know where my career was gonna go i i
Therapuss with Jake Shane
Session 71: Lea Michele
had no idea all i knew was you know i was so grateful to have our son and my husband and we were back home and then funny girl came along and it really um just reignited this passion that i have for broadway uh from the thing that i've been doing since i'm such a you know a young girl and for my city so to have the opportunity to come back like it would be unbelievable right
Therapuss with Jake Shane
Session 71: Lea Michele
But, you know, I don't know if anything will ever be as hard as Fanny Bryce. Yeah. But each will have its own, you know, challenges.
Therapuss with Jake Shane
Session 71: Lea Michele
Wait, weren't we talking that you were going to go see Marilee?
Therapuss with Jake Shane
Session 71: Lea Michele
Oh, that's right. I kept not missing it. You kept missing me. I kept missing when you were going to do it. Right.
Therapuss with Jake Shane
Session 71: Lea Michele
Got to get you. I know. Well, maybe when you move back here.
Therapuss with Jake Shane
Session 71: Lea Michele
What am I therapist about today? Yes. Like what am I like.
Therapuss with Jake Shane
Session 71: Lea Michele
I mean I legitimately have a mouth full of canker sores because I. How bad does it hurt? It hurts so. No it's like ever since I was like a little kid it's like an immune like thing.
Therapuss with Jake Shane
Session 71: Lea Michele
And if I'm like tired or like stressed. And so it does look like I had like really great lip injections.
Therapuss with Jake Shane
Session 71: Lea Michele
But you tell... I mean, don't you hear a song on the radio? Yes, and I'm like Rachel. Not that you're thinking about me and Glee all the time. I am. I am. I hear a song and I'd be like... I could hear Alex Anders and Adam Anders melodies. Like they did all of the music for Glee. I could hear in my head like... And I'd be like, you know, Mercedes would sing that part. Tina would sing that part.
Therapuss with Jake Shane
Session 71: Lea Michele
I'm just happy. I'm just grateful for this mic because I'm just like this.
Therapuss with Jake Shane
Session 71: Lea Michele
It's intense. And I also feel – We, like, really went there today.
Therapuss with Jake Shane
Session 71: Lea Michele
This is like an Akka, you know, and like you're like using the like there. Yeah. Like Akka. Yes. Excuse me. Excuse me. Yeah. Like a big one.
Therapuss with Jake Shane
Session 71: Lea Michele
Yeah. But I feel like I've known you. But I just, I have been like watching your videos for so long.
Therapuss with Jake Shane
Session 71: Lea Michele
Thank you. I mean, yeah, I don't like, if I'm going to go and do something, I'm not going to like, you have to look, if you can't be like your full authentic self, then just like stay home.
Therapuss with Jake Shane
Session 71: Lea Michele
Is this like the point where we like tell people what to do? Yes. With their lives?
Therapuss with Jake Shane
Session 71: Lea Michele
Yes. I mean, now I'm like nervous. Now I'm going to start to sweat. I don't want to give like an advice and be like, Lea Michele told me to do that. No, no, no.
Therapuss with Jake Shane
Session 71: Lea Michele
Do you ever lay in bed and you're like, ooh, I told that person to. All the time?
Therapuss with Jake Shane
Session 71: Lea Michele
I am an only child. Right. Shocker. So like I could imagine that I would also like be like you would think as an only child you'd be like give me my space but I'm not. I'm like let's stay in bed. Let's snuggle. Let's watch movies. But even now like I feel like I need to be the almost 40 year old person to say to this person like personal space is really important.
Therapuss with Jake Shane
Session 71: Lea Michele
But not only that, if it's not something that you like, that's OK.
Therapuss with Jake Shane
Session 71: Lea Michele
Like you should just be able to say, I love this and I love that you want to spend time with me. But I just my energy needs to be like I fuel my energy. People actually you'd think I'm an extrovert, but I'm actually an introvert. Really? I get my energy from being alone. So like my husband is an extrovert. He gets his energy from being out and seeing people.
Therapuss with Jake Shane
Session 71: Lea Michele
I refuel by being alone at home and then I can go out and like do what I love.
Therapuss with Jake Shane
Session 71: Lea Michele
But like it's OK to say like in order for me to like refuel, I need to be have more personal space. Right. Also like find like move somewhere else.
Therapuss with Jake Shane
Session 71: Lea Michele
Yeah. I mean, but like, I think that there's a way to be like, this is very sweet, but like I need some space. Right. Of course.
Therapuss with Jake Shane
Session 71: Lea Michele
Quinn would sing that part. Like, I can hear everything in my head when I hear a song on the radio.
Therapuss with Jake Shane
Session 71: Lea Michele
Well, I think it's like... It depends because if it's like you invited a boyfriend and a girlfriend or two girlfriends or whatever the situation, like a couple... Right. And you invite a couple over and they're in bed and if they're making out, like, what do you expect?
Therapuss with Jake Shane
Session 71: Lea Michele
But if it were like... two people and maybe it was like a little of like a messy situation and you're like wait this isn't what this weekend was about and you're disrespecting my parents house like maybe an apology yeah like a soft little like hey I'm so sorry like if you found that disrespectful but I don't there's not enough information there never is
Therapuss with Jake Shane
Session 71: Lea Michele
Pink Pony Club. Yeah. But it would be Kurt. It wouldn't have been Rachel. It would have been Kurt. A hundred percent. But I am going to do that on the tour.
Therapuss with Jake Shane
Session 71: Lea Michele
I've watched it front to back multiple times. That, Sex and the City, Friday Night Lights are like my shows.
Therapuss with Jake Shane
Session 71: Lea Michele
That was, like, later. Yes. And, like, and then what's her – Hannah's, like, not feeling it.
Therapuss with Jake Shane
Session 71: Lea Michele
I mean, also, like, people feel a certain way about their home that, like, maybe if it were your parents' house, like, they wouldn't care.
Therapuss with Jake Shane
Session 71: Lea Michele
But, like, other people's family, like, they might. And so a soft apology never hurt.
Therapuss with Jake Shane
Session 71: Lea Michele
Well, this person's your ex. Right, that's what I'm thinking.
Therapuss with Jake Shane
Session 71: Lea Michele
I was a national debater in New Jersey, like Bergen County champion debater over here.
Therapuss with Jake Shane
Session 71: Lea Michele
like but like we were me and my partner Samantha Melnick like we crushed we would do like matching outfits I'm sick like it was yeah I I loved the debate team for everyone who thinks that I can't fucking read like I was on the debate team I mean I would like write speeches like it was just yeah you must think that rumor is like hysterical or does it actually piss you off It depends on the day.
Therapuss with Jake Shane
Session 71: Lea Michele
Like it really depends on the day. Like 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 like me. is like hilarious to me.
Therapuss with Jake Shane
Session 71: Lea Michele
And then there are moments where I fucking get so frustrated by it because I'm one of the only women in my whole family to get accepted to college. You know, my mother and my mother's whole family was like extremely poor, like from the Bronx, like not very well like educated. And my parents moved me from the Bronx to New Jersey to get a good education and And to thrive. And I did.
Therapuss with Jake Shane
Session 71: Lea Michele
And my parents and my family are, like, so proud of that. And it really, like, was so important for, like, my grandmother to see me. And so for someone to, like, minimize that, like, it's, like, so sad.
Therapuss with Jake Shane
Session 71: Lea Michele
And so frustrating. But... Yeah, I don't know. It's wild.
Therapuss with Jake Shane
Session 71: Lea Michele
It's really wild. It's wild. It's a crazy thing. It's like... I'll never forget, like, the same day that that all came out, like, Donald Trump said he was gonna, like, punch John McCain in the face or something like that. It was 2015. Uh-huh. And he said something, like, so wild and... But what was trending online more was Lea Michele can't read.
Therapuss with Jake Shane
Session 71: Lea Michele
And Ryan Murphy called me and he was like, have you heard this rumor? And I was like, no, what's going on? And like, yeah, the fact that we are here all these years later. Give me the, I'm reading them. I'm sick, I'm sick, I'm sick. Jonathan is not here to read me this shit. Okay, ready? I placed first in my debate competition and qualified for nationals. What is this word?
Therapuss with Jake Shane
Session 71: Lea Michele
But after seeing the score sheets, I don't think I actually won. Should I speak up or just take the win?
Therapuss with Jake Shane
Session 71: Lea Michele
Well, I'm doing driver's license, obviously. You have to. It's, like, when I, like, met Olivia, I was, like, this is, like, the greatest. And then Vampire 2. Oh, yeah. It was, like, so, so, so good. But Rachel would 100% sing driver's license, like, in the car, going to Finn's house.
Therapuss with Jake Shane
Session 71: Lea Michele
The theories are going to be like Jake called her in advance. This doesn't prove anything. She memorized it. She saw the cards in advance. This proves nothing.
Therapuss with Jake Shane
Session 71: Lea Michele
Jonathan did a podcast and someone was like, you know, can Leah read? And his response to me was like so funny. He was like, do you really think she can't? Like, what the fuck does that say about you?
Therapuss with Jake Shane
Session 71: Lea Michele
But yeah, okay. I'm going to keep reading. Okay, what should this person do? Take the win or tell the truth?
Therapuss with Jake Shane
Session 71: Lea Michele
Well, let me read it to you again, Jake. Okay. I placed first at a debate. I can now, I'm actually, I have photographic memory too.
Therapuss with Jake Shane
Session 71: Lea Michele
How do you think I memorized all of those Rachel Berry?
Therapuss with Jake Shane
Session 71: Lea Michele
Okay, I placed first at a debate competition qualified for nationals, but after seeing the score sheet, I don't think I actually won. Should I speak up or take the win?
Therapuss with Jake Shane
Session 71: Lea Michele
Look, it's, yeah, it's not your fault that they scored it wrong. Like, take the win.
Therapuss with Jake Shane
Session 71: Lea Michele
Is this like okay for your show? Please. Okay. My boyfriend of two years' mom constantly makes rude comments about my body in front of his dad.
Therapuss with Jake Shane
Session 71: Lea Michele
He never defends me and I don't know what to do anymore. My boyfriend of two years' his mom constantly makes rude comments about my body in front of his dad and my boyfriend never defends me.
Therapuss with Jake Shane
Session 71: Lea Michele
He never defends me and I don't know what to do anymore. Definitely say something. Yeah, I would definitely say something. Definitely be like, this makes me really uncomfortable.
Therapuss with Jake Shane
Session 71: Lea Michele
If it were me, I'd say something like right then and there. Right. To the mom.
Therapuss with Jake Shane
Session 71: Lea Michele
Or I just start wearing like really sexy outfits. Yes, yeah.
Therapuss with Jake Shane
Session 71: Lea Michele
No, in the moment, I'd be like, oh, that's not nice. Yeah. Like, right?
Therapuss with Jake Shane
Session 71: Lea Michele
Yeah. I mean, I love my mother-in-law and father-in-law. Like, I got very, very lucky. Uh-huh. But you want a partner who loves their parents. Right. Like, I love my mom and dad. I'm, like, super close with my mom and dad. So, of course, you want, like, you're marrying their family because you want them to be super close. Like, at least that's what I want because I...
Therapuss with Jake Shane
Session 71: Lea Michele
like that's the kind of relationship that I'm used to and like we have the same like similar family dynamic and that's why like our families work together so well right well if I was this girl I would watch Monster in Law Oh, this is like beyond monstrosity. Yeah. There's something going on with the dad. Okay. I'm just like praying that I can like underlink. Don't stutter.
Therapuss with Jake Shane
Session 71: Lea Michele
I know. It's, like, that's why, look, until there's some reboot, until that comes, whenever, if ever, this is the great, like, fun time to play around and, like,
Therapuss with Jake Shane
Session 71: Lea Michele
I stayed in my hometown for university because of my boyfriend. My boyfriend. I stayed in my hometown for university. Is that like overseas they call it university? Yeah.
Therapuss with Jake Shane
Session 71: Lea Michele
Okay. I stayed in my hometown for university because of my boyfriend. Now I feel stuck.
Therapuss with Jake Shane
Session 71: Lea Michele
full of FOMO and regret not do you love how I read it like yeah like Rachel and regret not leaving like all of my friends did I don't know that's Rachel yeah I don't know if I should transfer or just stick through it and leave after no you gotta go you gotta go you gotta go roots before branches you've gotta go yeah no you you if you're feeling FOMO now it's only gonna get worse yes and if you're worried that your relationship like isn't gonna last then
Therapuss with Jake Shane
Session 71: Lea Michele
Out of there. Roots before branches. Yes. Hashtag. Hashtag. Okay. My friend is a pathological liar. Ooh. She once used a fake story about a car accident to ditch our luncheon trip. Girl, how do we hold her accountable when she denies everything?
Therapuss with Jake Shane
Session 71: Lea Michele
Yeah, no, no, no, no, no. This is not okay. Also, like, the first line, my friend is a pathological liar. It's like, that's not a friend. That's not okay.
Therapuss with Jake Shane
Session 71: Lea Michele
revisit her like i love the show so much it was a wild experience um and one day you know maybe i'll write a book and talk all about it but i really you know the show means so much to me the work that i did and i love rachel so much so to have the opportunity to go on tour And sing these songs and also talk about what was going on while I was doing them. I've never really been able to do that.
Therapuss with Jake Shane
Session 71: Lea Michele
Right. They're like, I love you. Right. But not good.
Therapuss with Jake Shane
Session 71: Lea Michele
Oh, my God. This next one. I fainted while getting a haircut and it fucked up my hair like bad. There's a huge tremor mark. What should I do? It looks horrible.
Therapuss with Jake Shane
Session 71: Lea Michele
That's a beta blocker. Oh, got it. That's the like prescribed name for that. No, I get terrible stage fright.
Therapuss with Jake Shane
Session 71: Lea Michele
Oh, yeah. Yeah. Like I don't take beta blockers. I have taken them before. Weirdly, I get more nervous for more intimate. Like just recently I sang at a birthday party with like 100 people. And I was like, all I had to do was sing Don't Rain on My Parade. And I felt like I was going to have a heart attack. And like I feel like I'm going to faint. It's so bad.
Therapuss with Jake Shane
Session 71: Lea Michele
And no one knows, but like I was nervous every night before Funny Girl. Really? Every single night. Like I get such bad stage fright and my like nervous and anxiety are so bad. So, but yes.
Therapuss with Jake Shane
Session 71: Lea Michele
Or I'll talk a lot and like you'll never know it, but I'm dying inside.
Therapuss with Jake Shane
Session 71: Lea Michele
And I just, and the minute I get out there, I feel like I'm going to faint.
Therapuss with Jake Shane
Session 71: Lea Michele
It never goes away. Throughout the entire time you're performing? Usually like halfway through, I'll like feel a little bit better. And then when I'm done, I'm exhausted.
Therapuss with Jake Shane
Session 71: Lea Michele
So much stress and worry. Yeah. Wow. I know. I can like count on one hand the only times that I haven't been nervous.
Therapuss with Jake Shane
Session 71: Lea Michele
I mean, weirdly when I sang Don't Rain on My Parade at the Tony Awards this last time, I wasn't, I was, because I was just in such a flow of doing the show.
Therapuss with Jake Shane
Session 71: Lea Michele
I knew we were going to. I know. I knew this was going to happen. Thank you so much for having me and for making me feel so welcomed and safe in your little environment. Thank you.
Therapuss with Jake Shane
Session 71: Lea Michele
you thank you um before i let you go yes what do you think we learned today oh gosh that i would write an incredible book yes that's going to be not one not two but three parts um that leah michelle can read that leah michelle can read and you know um maybe just a little bit more about one another yeah right
Therapuss with Jake Shane
Session 71: Lea Michele
We'll be friends, right? Forever. Okay. Hopefully. Then he like never talks to me again. No.
Therapuss with Jake Shane
Session 71: Lea Michele
That was so much fun. Thanks for coming. Are you going to come to my tour?
Therapuss with Jake Shane
Session 71: Lea Michele
I'll call your parents. I'll be like, no matter what happens. He is coming to me. You are not keeping him from seeing me on stage again.
Therapuss with Jake Shane
Session 71: Lea Michele
That is going to be my- Will you come up on the stage? Are you kidding?
Therapuss with Jake Shane
Session 71: Lea Michele
Oh, my God. Bye, pussies. This is the best. Oh, I love you. Oh, my God. Thank you so much.
Therapuss with Jake Shane
Session 71: Lea Michele
Right. And talk openly about, you know, what it was like to sing Make You Feel My Love or why did I sing Glitter in the Air? Like I I there's so much that was going on behind the scenes. And, you know, my tour is a real opportunity for me to be just open and talk about what that was like for me, just from my experience.
Therapuss with Jake Shane
Session 71: Lea Michele
Like literally everything. Yeah. Like literally everything. I mean, yeah, it was. Look, we were all so young and everybody was growing up and, you know, falling in love. Or, you know, for me, like that was a huge part of the whole experience for me was my experience. You know, like the this great, you know, love. And yeah, it was so unbelievable that you'd be watching the show.
Therapuss with Jake Shane
Session 71: Lea Michele
And when I watch it, I can tell you exactly. I'd be like, oh, that day I was sobbing in my dressing room. Like or that day was like the best day in the world.
Therapuss with Jake Shane
Session 71: Lea Michele
He's like my second husband. Right. Yeah. I was about to say. I'm going to see his opening night tonight. Did you know that? No.
Therapuss with Jake Shane
Session 71: Lea Michele
Just in time on Broadway. I'm going to promote that as well, everyone. Bobby Darin, Jonathan Groff at Circle in the Square in New York City.
Therapuss with Jake Shane
Session 71: Lea Michele
I told you when he when you saw him and then he was like, I met your friend. I ran up to him. I ran up to him. Good.
Therapuss with Jake Shane
Session 71: Lea Michele
No, he was offered Finn and he turned it down. What? So this is the whole story. You can put this in the podcast if you want or you can edit it out. I would never edit this out. So we were in Spring Awakening on Broadway together. And Ryan Murphy came to see Spring Awakening. And I knew Ryan because he did a television show way, way, way before you. Nip Talk?
Therapuss with Jake Shane
Session 71: Lea Michele
No, way, way, way before you called Popular, which was my favorite show of all time. It was my AOL password. And I loved Popular.
Therapuss with Jake Shane
Session 71: Lea Michele
I had to get rid of it. But he came and I was like, oh my God, popular. It was like Leslie Bibb was on it. It was like the show. It was like our gossip girl for my generation. And so I was so excited to meet him. And then he cast Jonathan in a pilot that he was doing. So Jonathan, this is a very long story. I'm here. Okay.
Therapuss with Jake Shane
Session 71: Lea Michele
So John was like, I have to leave Spring Awakening to go film this pilot in California with Ryan Murphy. And I was devastated. Turns out the same two weeks he was gone, Broadway shut down. And I didn't have like anywhere to go. And we were like, what are we going to do during these two weeks? So I got on a plane and flew like any best friend would do.
Therapuss with Jake Shane
Session 71: Lea Michele
Girl in New York who doesn't know what to do without her best friend. I got on a plane. I flew to L.A. My boyfriend also broke up with me and my grandmother had passed away. It was like all of this like stuff. And I got on a plane. I flew to him and he was like, look, I'm working all day, but get dressed. We're going to the Chateau Marmont tonight with Ryan Murphy. I was like, the where?
Therapuss with Jake Shane
Session 71: Lea Michele
I was like, great, whatever. I go to Melrose Place. I pick out the ugliest dress, but I thought it was beautiful. Damn. It was a purple silk dress with ruffles down the front. Literally, did I know I was picking a Rachel Berry dress? Yeah, I was about to say. And I showed up to the chateau. It was probably like the record scratched. It was like, who is this girl, this weirdo girl coming here?
Therapuss with Jake Shane
Session 71: Lea Michele
And I just sat there and I talked to Ryan all night about...
Therapuss with Jake Shane
Session 71: Lea Michele
barbara streisand and celine dion and broadway and then a couple months later john and i were back on broadway and he's like ryan's writing this show for me and you and i was like no he's not that's never gonna happen and turns out that he was he was writing glee for me and john i auditioned i ended up getting rachel they offered him finn and he turned it down he didn't want to play a
Therapuss with Jake Shane
Session 71: Lea Michele
And then they hired Corey. And then, you know, however, later into the run, Ryan was like, will you please come on at least and just play this like, you know, kind of coming in, coming out character. Right. And he was like, sure. So then he came and played Jesse St. James.
Therapuss with Jake Shane
Session 71: Lea Michele
I mean, imagine if I hadn't gone there. Right. Like.
Therapuss with Jake Shane
Session 71: Lea Michele
Yes, this is the story of my life. Talk about butterfly effect. Yeah, no, I was in LA. I had left Spring Awakening. I knew that this Glee audition was coming up, but I was like, whatever, whatever. It's never going to happen. They're never going to cast me. I was always told I was too Jewish looking for television. I wasn't like pretty enough, like all of that.
Therapuss with Jake Shane
Session 71: Lea Michele
And I was driving in my little like mini coupe that I had rented in L.A., blasting Adele and singing at the top of my lungs on my way to my Glee audition. trying to make a right turn into the studio from the center lane because I'm from New York City. Right. And I totaled my car, played dead, but then realized if I'm dead, I can't audition.
Therapuss with Jake Shane
Session 71: Lea Michele
So then I revived myself, literally left the car in the road, ran up the lot and walked in and they were like, you can go home. And I was like, I'm not going home. pulled the glass out of my hair, dropped it on the table, auditioned for Rachel Berry and got the part that day.
Therapuss with Jake Shane
Session 71: Lea Michele
I mean, look, I guess I can't say right now that I'm not like Rachel because I'm really like proving myself. But look, there are a lot of things that we are different in. But I completely like her sense of determination. Like I've been working since I'm eight years old. Right. I just celebrated 30 years of working professionally. I did my first Broadway show when I was eight.
Therapuss with Jake Shane
Session 71: Lea Michele
And talk about Butterfly Effect. I went on an audition with a friend and booked it for fun.
Therapuss with Jake Shane
Session 71: Lea Michele
My friend really wanted to be on Broadway. And there was an audition for Les Mis in our hometown. And she wanted to go. And then the night before, her father had a heart attack. And her mom called my mom and said, will you take her? Like, I don't want her to miss out on this opportunity. So my mom was like, tomorrow, Chloe wants to go on this audition. Hi, Chloe. And we're going to take her.
Therapuss with Jake Shane
Session 71: Lea Michele
And I was like, well, I'm going to go too. And my dad was like, you can't sing, but you're a great dancer. Couldn't have been more wrong. And I sang a song and I booked it and I was on Broadway two weeks later.
Therapuss with Jake Shane
Session 71: Lea Michele
Over Chloe and thousands of other talented, you know, girls.
Therapuss with Jake Shane
Session 71: Lea Michele
I just continued to work from eight until 17, 18. I did Broadway shows and then I got Spring Awakening and that was sort of the biggest thing that I did as a, you know, sort of adult. That was a huge moment. It was like a great pre-Glee experience because it was like a mini Glee. It was like a Broadway just explosion of this amazing show like
Therapuss with Jake Shane
Session 71: Lea Michele
we all blew up like it was do you know spring awakening of course i know spring awakening yeah so it was did you see that documentary you should watch it no but i i but i i recently saw some video of was it you and jonathan he's like crying he's like crying you're laughing at him or something everywhere but yeah that was great to kind of like talk about what that show was like and what that experience was like um and then after that i i booked glee and the rest is sort of history
Therapuss with Jake Shane
Session 71: Lea Michele
I feel like you have so many amazing fans and so many great supporters. But I really feel like I was at the beginning.
Therapuss with Jake Shane
Session 71: Lea Michele
That's a really good question. I think. So I think that I really knew – I had no television experience. So I didn't really know canceled, like not – like I didn't understand – Renewed. Right. Like I was just sort of like, oh, I got a TV show and it's, you know, going to be picked up for a season. Right.
Therapuss with Jake Shane
Session 71: Lea Michele
And I was sort of maybe a little bit more skewing positive because I didn't have as much experience where maybe other people were probably like, now I understand that it's not as, you know –
Therapuss with Jake Shane
Session 71: Lea Michele
um good or whatever so but i knew we had something really special i wasn't sure if people would like understand it everybody was like well is it high school musical well is it you know like the movie election like people couldn't really figure it out right but it was very clear that once it aired that we were like oh like uh-huh this is gonna be something