Lea Michele’s son rushed to hospital with ‘scary health issue’ as she cancels performances
GLEE actress Lea Michele has rushed her son to hospital with a “scary health issue.”
The actress, 36, scrapped her upcoming Funny Girl performances on Broadway to take care of tot Ever Leo, aged two, who was born in August 2020.
Lea, who plays lead Fanny Brice in the stage show, called on fans for their “love and prayers” amid the medical emergency.
She took to her Instagram page to explain her turmoil and wrote: “I’m so sorry but unfortunately I will be out of @FunnyGirlBwy today.
“We are at the hospital with our son dealing with a scary health issue that I need to be here for.
“I’m so sorry. Please send us some love and strength.”
She posted the words alongside a snap showing her cuddling her son, who was nestled next to a teddy bear.
Glee favourite Lea shares Ever with husband Zandy Reich, the president of women’s fashion brand AYR, which stands for All Year Round.
The show’s official page also broke the news, with a post which read: “Lea Michele will be out of both performances today, Wednesday, March 22. Julie Benko will be your fabulous Fanny!”
One fan wrote: “I hope Ever is going to be okay.”
A second put: “Literally the only reason we flew in tonight and bought tickets. I hope everything is OK.”
A third mused: “Lea’s a mother something Julie is not so ofc for emergencies she will be out if she has to be so I hope everything is okay with Lea and her baby boy!”
One then added: “Sending love and prayers to lea and her family.”
Previously, Lea replaced Beanie Feldstein in the role of Funny Girl’s Fanny Brice.
Michele had wanted to pursue a role in Funny Girl since she first announced it in a 2014 interview with Andy Cohen on Watch What Happens Live.
“Ryan [Murphy] has the rights [to the musical], and it’s something that we’d both, I think, would really like to do,” Michele said.
She continued, “… We’ve had some really exciting first meetings with a really fabulous director that we think would be really wonderful.”
Back in 2020, Lea risked being cancelled after accusations about her conduct on the Glee set came to light.
She was accused of being “racist” and calling extras “cockroaches.”
According to co-stars and extras of the show, Michele displayed mean behavior and was “unpleasant” to work with throughout the filming of the show.
Her co-star Samantha Ware recently took to Twitter to voice her frustrations, claiming Michele was “racist” and made the extras working on the set feel as though they were “nothing.”
Samantha played Jane Hayward in Glee and claimed that Michele made her life on set a “living hell.”
Imia Edwards, an extra on the show, said that Michele referred to her and others as “cockroaches” and asked them to not even “look at her” while cameras weren’t rolling.
In addition, a source exclusively told The Sun of Michele’s April 2019 stint as a guest performer on American Idol: “She was a nightmare on Idol. One contestant asked for a picture and she didn’t even say no. She just walked away.”
At the time, Lea claimed that she is learning and listening to the criticisms against her.
“I need to keep working to better myself and take responsibility for my actions, so that I can be a role model for my child and so I can pass along my lessons and mistakes, so that they can learn from me,” she said.