Skip To Content
JEWISH. INDEPENDENT. NONPROFIT.
The Schmooze

How Barbra Streisand Saved Lea Michele’s Nose

Barbra Streisand may have been slightly disappointed with Jennifer Aniston’s smooth-nosed “Funny Girl” homage, but at least she can take personal credit for Lea Michele’s distinctive schnoz.

“My mother would say to me, ‘Barbra Streisand never got a nose job. You’re not getting a nose job,’ ” the “Glee” star says in the latest issue of Allure magazine.

The half-Jewish Michele should be glad she didn’t: In addition to adding a bit more personality to her beautiful face, the decision to skip surgery may have preserved the voice that’s served her so well on Broadway and TV.

Michele tells Allure that an early manager suggested surgery to change her nose. Too young to know who Streisand was, the actress nevertheless sensed the role Streisand had played in redefining what talented singer-actresses can look like.

“This was before I really even knew who Barbra was,” Michele says. “I just knew that she was, like, the messiah for girls like me.”

A message from our Publisher & CEO Rachel Fishman Feddersen

I hope you appreciated this article. Before you go, I’d like to ask you to please support the Forward’s award-winning, nonprofit journalism during this critical time.

We’ve set a goal to raise $260,000 by December 31. That’s an ambitious goal, but one that will give us the resources we need to invest in the high quality news, opinion, analysis and cultural coverage that isn’t available anywhere else.

If you feel inspired to make an impact, now is the time to give something back. Join us as a member at your most generous level.

—  Rachel Fishman Feddersen, Publisher and CEO

With your support, we’ll be ready for whatever 2025 brings.

Republish This Story

Please read before republishing

We’re happy to make this story available to republish for free, unless it originated with JTA, Haaretz or another publication (as indicated on the article) and as long as you follow our guidelines. You must credit the Forward, retain our pixel and preserve our canonical link in Google search.  See our full guidelines for more information, and this guide for detail about canonical URLs.

To republish, copy the HTML by clicking on the yellow button to the right; it includes our tracking pixel, all paragraph styles and hyperlinks, the author byline and credit to the Forward. It does not include images; to avoid copyright violations, you must add them manually, following our guidelines. Please email us at [email protected], subject line “republish,” with any questions or to let us know what stories you’re picking up.

We don't support Internet Explorer

Please use Chrome, Safari, Firefox, or Edge to view this site.