From what little I know of Lea Michele, I think she’s likely a rude, obnoxious little diva. I get that she has a great voice and maybe enough acting chops to get her to Broadway and television stardom on Glee, and I also get that maybe she’s new to the national fame game, and doesn’t always say the right things, and yes, there’s a learning curve. I accept all that. But what I find interesting – and very telling – is that as soon as she started getting bad press for pulling the diva act, Glee creator Ryan Murphy took to the press to defend his diva as if she was Maria Callas or something. Now Us Weekly is running a rather rude/funny piece about how everyone who works on Glee sort of hates her. Not really, but Us Weekly does use the word “diva” in the headline, although no one quoted uses that word.

Art imitates life for Glee star Lea Michele. A source tells Us Weekly the actress (who plays uptight show standout Rachel Berry), 23, is a diva on the set of the Fox show, which airs its season finale Tuesday night.

“Lea acts like she’s better than the rest of the cast,” says the insider. “But the thing is, she legitimately is.”

Another set source says, “She’s sweet, but she has her moments.”

Apt to boss around makeup artists and other crew members, “She has very clear ideas about what she wants to do and how she wants to look. I think she’s just Type-A, like her character”

A second pal points out that Lea has “always wanted to be a star,” and, in a classic Hollywood move, “she has become super-strict about her diet. She is a vegan now and says she hasn’t eaten cheese in a year!”‘

Michele — who admitted on The Oprah Winfrey Show she’s more like her character than any of her co-stars — even “sings along to her own songs on the radio.”

At a May 24 cast dinner at Chicago’s Sunda, she was the only star who refused to sign autographs for fans. After it was reported she snapped at photographer Patrick McMullan for asking her name at the Time 100 party, she Twittered that it was a “silly joke.”

Still, the cast has bonded working 14-hour days.

“We’ve become so close, Dianna Agron, 24, who plays pregnant cheerleader Quinn Fabray, tells Us. “We’re like a family.”

[From Us Weekly]

See, I set you up for a really mean article, but it’s not really. Most unnamed sources are like, “Yeah, she’s kind of bitch, but whatever.” So, is Lea terrible or terribly talented? Or both? I can’t decide. CB theorized that so many people are ready to dislike her because she has kind of a smug, bitchy face. CB also theorized that people associate her with type-A personality character, and dislike her for that reason. It sounds like that really is who she is, though. She’s type-A, she’s a bit high-strung, she’s a little smug. But if she has the talent to back up her attitude, maybe people will keep giving her breaks.