Naya Rivera Opens Up on 'Clash' With 'Glee' Co-Star Lea Michele
Naya Rivera is singing out with "Glee" gossip in her new book, "Sorry Not Sorry: Dreams, Mistakes, and Growing Up," including her take on her strained relationship with former co-star Lea Michele (Rachel Berry).
Rivera (who played Santana Lopez) wrote that she wishes she and Michele had a better relationship (there was talk at one point that Michele got Rivera fired from "Glee") but insists "rumors of a 'feud' were blown out of proportion."
"I don't hate Lea, and I never have," Rivera wrote (via TooFab), adding, "We are both strong-willed and competitive — and that's not a good mixture. When two people with strong personalities are friends, they're eventually going to clash. And maybe they'll get over it; maybe they won't. Lea and I didn't."
Rivera said the actresses started out as friends, but as time went on, things got tense, and she seems to lay a lot of the blame at Lea Michele's feet.
"I think Rachel — erm, I mean Lea — didn't like sharing the spotlight. She had a hard time separating work from our outside friendship." Rivera explained, "Lea was a lot more sensitive, though, and sometimes 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 bitching about her. 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."
"Glee" Season 6, which aired in early 2015, was the final season of the series.
Rivera did have some nice things to say about Michele, though, especially in regard to their "Glee" co-star, and Michele's then-boyfriend, Cory Monteith.
"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," Rivera wrote. "I was happy for Cory to have a stable influence in his life, wherever it was he found it." Sadly, as fans know, Monteith died in 2013 from a combination of heroin and alcohol.
Rivera's book, available now, also covers her relationships with Mark Salling and Big Sean.
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