Dianna Agron starred alongside Naya River on Glee. Image Source: ET
Dianna Agron remembers Naya Rivera.
During an appearance on the Allison Interviews podcast, Glee star Dianna Agron shared about her father who is sixty-six years old and is battling with Multiple Sclerosis along with remembering her late co-star and friend Naya Rivera. Naya Riveria passed away in July 2020 as a result of accidental drowning in Lake Piru at the age of 33.
Dianna said that death has been prevalent in her life as she has lost a lot of loved ones and it always felt to her that it was not the right time. She explained that she had lost a lot of people who were very dear and close to her while she was growing up, and now her father is very ill. The actress mentioned that she is proud of herself for living in the present with her family and friends, and she understands that the health and wellness of anyone are not guaranteed, but she likes to live in the present and that helps her.
Talking about Naya, Dianna said that she was her first friend on the sets of 'Glee', and because both of them weren’t involved in the entire plot much compared to the other actors, they were quite isolated. She explained that, in comparison to the other characters and actors, Naya and she were only briefly involved in singing and dancing. The isolation sort of helped both of them to develop a friendship on the sets, as they could understand each other and become point people for each other.
Dianna further said that Naya Rivera was a unique and special person and impressed everyone with the way she carried herself with utmost confidence and certainty. The actress also shared that Naya was a very strong-minded person, and if she believed in something or a person, she would always go to lengths to uplift those ideas or the person in every possible way. The actress continued by stating that the late actress was very very strong in a lot of ways, which has inspired Dianna to adopt a few of her qualities.
Dianna Agron mentioned that she believes that the way she had to adapt to moments from her own experiences throughout her life and process a difficult path while growing up led to her being a resilient person. Naya was also one of those people who had grown up to be a resilient person. She added that any strength she had, Naya had ten times more of it and it was inspiring and nurturing to be around her. She also described Naya Rivera as someone who had the best comic timing and was wickedly funny.
Dianna Agron mentioned that it’s surreal for her and for the people who knew her that she is not here anymore to give all the love and gifts she had to give to people. The actress states that she feels lucky and grateful that she had time to get to know someone like Naya Rivera. When the news of Naya Rivera's passing away came out, the Glee stars could not believe it and later joined in paying their tribute to the late actress who passed away due to drowning.
At the time of Naya Rivera’s death, Dianna Agron shared on social media that she was not able to make sense of the news she had heard and was not able to process the loss the world had suffered, but she was going to hold onto the memories of her late friend and co-star for the rest of her life alongside their Glee family. She wrote in her post at the time that both of them dared to dream and Naya’s magnetic talent was going to be unleashed with the success of Glee.
Dianna’s tribute continued as she wrote that Naya’s work ethic, fearlessness, and talent were supreme and her laugh would hold you captive. Dianna said that she admired Naya’s sense of curiosity and wanderlust and was lucky enough to be her traveling partner for some of her favorite adventures. She concluded her post by stating that with Naya Rivera, everything was possible and would often simply unfold before them, magically.
Naya Rivera’s cause of death was ruled as an accidental drowning, and the news of her passing away comes five days after the seventh death anniversary of fellow Glee co-star and friend Cory Monteith, who passed away due to an accidental overdose. Mark Salling, another former co-star on Glee, passed away in 2018 after he took his own life. Mark and Naya dated briefly.
