Gloria Estefan Gushes On Tonight's Glee Debut

Gleeks, are you okay? How are you dealing? Need a tissue yet?
Tonight is the long-awaited finale episode of Glee, where the seniors of McKinley High will be accepting those diplomas and leaving the high school hallways behind.
While we are SUPER sad for tonight’s show, we are also really excited for Gloria Estefan’s debut as Santana’s mom, Maribel!!
Though she doesn’t sing in the episode, Gloria hopes to come back to the show next season and show the choir kids just how it’s done!
Estefan, who says she and her son are big Gleeks themselves, visited the set one day, which led to Ryan Murphy offering her the role of Mrs. Lopez!!
Gloria spilled some details on her character in a recent interview, saying:

“[She] loved to sing and was a singer and put her life on hold because she thought being a mom was very important so she wants Santana to make it through. She├óΓé¼Γäós supportive of her daughter. She just wants her to be happy├óΓé¼ΓÇ¥bottom line. I know the feeling because my daughter is getting ready to do her last year of high school and she├óΓé¼Γäós gonna do a summer program. It├óΓé¼Γäós the first time we├óΓé¼Γäóre all going to be separated. I├óΓé¼Γäóm there! It was a very hard thing for me to imagine.├óΓé¼┬¥

Gloria’s daughter even came on set to watch the shoot, along with her dad, who admits he got choked up while watching the scenes!
On tonight├óΓé¼Γäós finale, Mrs. Lopez also shares some scenes with Santana├óΓé¼Γäós GF, Brittany — one which Gloria considers to be ├óΓé¼┼ôpoignant├óΓé¼┬¥ as well as one that├óΓé¼Γäós fun AND scary.
As for Gloria’s thoughts about Santana Naya? She’s a fan and thinks she’s super sweet and “fun to be around.”
Estefan is such a huge supporter of Glee, partly for its ability to entertain and help us use it as escapism.
The singer/actress stated:

“You couldn├óΓé¼Γäót have done this before because we were all too cheeky back in the ├óΓé¼╦£80s and ├óΓé¼╦£90s and would have snubbed our noses at something so whimsical. Now, people need it! It├óΓé¼Γäós fun. Great music. My favorite so far was One Less Bell to Answer/House is Not a Home.├óΓé¼┬¥

We SO agree!
We have no doubt in our minds that Mz. Estefan will do AHmazingly tonight and we really do hope she’ll appear next season…with a singing solo, too!
[Image via Fox.]