Before They Were Famous: Lea Michele Was One Annoying Kid

Lea Michele didn’t land the role of ambitious songbird Rachel Berry on TV’s Glee by accident.

The lady has been a fame-hungry showbiz-bot since the ripe old age of 12!

Before Lea and her inappropriate cleavage were creating a natural panic on the cover of GQ, the brunette was just another really chatty child of the entertainment scene.

In this terrifying video from 1998, a tween Lea chats animatedly about how she juggled her then-blossoming Broadway career with growing up in The Big Apple.

“Lots of people say ‘When do you have time to be a real kid?’” she says earnestly. “And I really still am a real kid,” she said.

The clip, taken from a documentary about motherhood, was recently unearthed by MTV’s The Seven and also features Lea’s mom, who couldn’t get a word in edgewise. Though Mom seemed all too happy to let her precocious Mini-Me do all the talking.