Glee’s Heather Morris opens up on how the late Naya Rivera helped her with her eating disorder

"I was so in my head about food and what it was doing for me."

Heather Morris has opened up about her eating disorder during her time starring on Glee and how the late Naya Rivera helped her with it. Prior to starring in the hit series in 2009, Heather worked as a dancer on various tours, including with Beyonce, and said that she had developed "an unhealthy work habit" and always felt that she needed to "people please" on the show. When Glee became a huge success, it lead to a concert tour in 2010 and Heather remembered things beginning to escalate when it came to her health. Speaking on the And That's What You REALLY Missed podcast alongside her Glee co-stars Jenna Ushkowitz and Kevin McHale, the Brittany actress said: "I had developed an eating disorder. I stopped getting my period. I was so in my head about food and what it was doing for me." Heather played Brittany on the show for its entire run, and became close with Naya, who played Santana, as the two spent the majority of the show in a romantic relationship. Heather went on to speak more about her eating disorder, saying that food would be served to the entire cast on tour and she wouldn't eat and didn't hide it from the others. But it was Naya who confronted her about it and tried to help her overcome her eating disorder.

"I can't remember exactly what she was saying, but she was approaching me about my eating disorder because I know she herself had eating disorders, and she was very open about it in her book. So she of course was the first to speak up about it," explained Heather.

Heather knew she only had good intentions, she recalled at the time blowing "it off" and telling Naya that everything was okay and the two never spoke about it again.

"That's who she was. She was just always ready to talk about it," Heather said.

"To face things head on," added Jenna.

As Brittany and Santana were so close on the show, Naya and Heather also became extremely close friends off camera, and she spoke about it when Naya tragically passed away in July 2020. "You constantly taught me lessons about grief, about beauty and poise, about being strong, resilient and about not giving a f— (but still somehow respectful)," she wrote in an Instagram tribute at the time. "Yet, the utmost important lesson I learned most of all from you was being a consistent and loving friend. You were the first to check in, the first to ask questions, the first to listen .. you cherished our friendship and I never took that for granted," she wrote.