Glee’s Naya Rivera Tells All In New Memoir: From Lea Michele Feud To Having An Abortion

Naya Rivera, 29, released her Memoir Tuesday, entitled Sorry, Not Sorry: Dreams, MIstakes, and Growing Up.

NAYA RIVERA STOPPED TALKING TO LEA MICHELE

Rivera and cast member Lea Michele, 30, were friends at first, before Glee became the sensation that it did. Eventually the series hit a point where Rivera’s character, Santana, was given more screen time than Michele’s Rachel. Rivera says that jealousy became an issue for Michele and it hurt their friendship.

“It seemed like she blamed me for anything and everything that went wrong. If I’d complained about anyone or anything, she assumed I was b-tching about her,” Rivera says. “Soon she started to ignore me, and eventually it got to the point where she didn’t say a word to me for all of season six.” She continued, “Lea and I definitely weren’t the best of friends… but the rumors of our ‘feud’ were blown out of proportion.”

Rivera also says that Michele, who famously dated fellow cast member Cory Monteith before his tragic death in July 2013, was probably a good thing in Monteith’s life. Monteith, who died of a drug overdose at 31, struggled with addiction for years. Once Michele and Monteith got more serious, Rivera says she saw him less and less. “My personal feelings for Lea aside, I knew that she wasn’t a partier, so I felt like maybe their relationship could actually be good for him,” admits Rivera. “I was happy for Cory to have a stable influence in his life, wherever it was he found it.”

Rivera married actor Ryan Dorsey in July 2014. In her memoir, Rivera revealed that when the couple was first dating, they were very on-again off-again, and during an off period, Rivera realized she was pregnant. She and her mom went to a Planned Parenthood where she was given an abortion pill. The actress had to where a wig and sunglasses to avoid paparazzi noticing.

“It was the worst experience of my life,” she writes. “It was incredibly painful — your body is basically in labor with strong, frequent contractions. I was nauseous and kept going in and out of consciousness because of the pain.” She continued to bleed for two and half weeks, but had to continue her work on Glee at the same time. “When I got up to work the next day, a little more than 12 hours after having a medical abortion, I had to put my cheerleading uniform back on and hope that the skimpy bloomers covered the giant pad I was wearing.”

Even years later, the traumatic experience still lingers with her. “I don’t think I ever emotionally healed from the abortion, which is why it is so mind-blowing that some people think having an abortion is the carefree girl’s No. 1 choice to keep on partying,” Rivera tells. “In reality, it is anything but an easy choice. In some ways, I think choosing to have an abortion is almost harder than choosing to have your child, because you make that choice knowing, or at least suspecting, that many moments of your life will no be tinged with regret.”

She also wrote about her now-husband’s response to finding out after the fact. She says he had the best response any man could have. His response was, “you know, in the short time that we dated, I wish that I could have done something to make you feel like you could have trusted me with that information because I would have loved to have been there with you.”

Rivera’s book Sorry, Not Sorry is available for purchase now.