Lea Michele was told to get a nose job because she "wasn’t pretty enough" to be on TV.

The 36-year-old 'Glee' star has opened up about her past insecurities in a new interview celebrating her role as Fanny Brice in Broadway show 'Funny Girl' and Lea revealed she was thrilled to get a letter from her idol Barbra Streisand - who played the same part on stage in the 1968 film - as the actress said she shared Barbara's worries about her looks.

She told Town and Country magazine: "Growing up, people would tell me to get nose jobs, that I wasn’t pretty enough for film and television."

Lea went on to say of Barbara's note to her: "It was so surreal and such a wonderful moment. The fact that she acknowledged my performance - I could cry ... t was a beautiful, hand-written note that I will cherish. She was incredibly complimentary.

"It exists. It happened, and now I feel like so many dreams can come true."

Barbara has previously spoke about her own struggles with her appearance and admitted she considered having surgery on her nose in the early days of her career but she couldn't afford it.

In a 1977 interview with Playboy magazine, Barbara said: "When I was young, everyone would say, "You gonna have your nose done?" It was like a fad, all the Jewish girls having their noses done every week at Erasmus Hall High School, taking perfectly good noses and whittling them down to nothing. The first thing someone would have done would be to cut my bump off. But I love my bump, I wouldn't cut my bump off."

She went on to explain her nose actually helped her sing and changing her face would have been a disaster. Barbara added: "My deviated septum [makes my voice special]. If I ever had my nose fixed, it would ruin my career."