Heather Morris Tearfully Reflects On Her Glee Experiences & Close Friendship With Naya Rivera

This is so sad…

Heather Morris wants Glee fans to know they are not along in their significant and lasting grief over the sudden, tragic death of Naya Rivera. The 33-year-old dancer and actress, who played Brittany S. Pierce on the hit TV show, opened up on Sunday in a new Instagram video about Rivera and the bond Morris had playing alongside the infamous Santana Lopez for so many years of groundbreaking LGBTQ representation in television.

Speaking directly to fans and mourners in her video on the social network, Morris started off by saying (below):

“I have done a couple of these already, because it’s really tricky to film yourself and be really honest and talk personally. I have been feeling very heavy lately. I’ve been feeling this like aching in my heart to connect with my fans, to connect with everybody who’s been feeling a little lost and confused during this time. I don’t need to explain what the importance of Santana and Brittany’s relationship was to all of you who are watching, because most of you felt like it was your gateway into your current life. Most of you felt like it was an inspiration to become your best self. I want you to know that that was never lost on me. It was never lost on Naya. We both knew how special that was. I think she knew a little bit more than I did. I really felt it a lot later with all the messages and all the people reaching out. and I knew the writers also knew that as well. They were basically writing for the fans.”

It’s getting misty in here…

Morris continued on from there, adding how she knows that fans are watching Glee and taking comfort in re-living Rivera’s most iconic moments on the show, now after her death. The talented dancer started to tear up and cry herself, and said:

“I felt a really deep need to connect to all of you right now because I just know how important our relationship was to you all. And I know a lot of you feel very lost and very far away from what happened, a maybe a bit confused. And that’s completely normal. But I felt like it owed it to you guys because I think the fans were such a huge impact on our storyline and I want to thank you all for being such advocates and so supportive of Santana and Brittany’s relationship, because without you guys it never would have existed. You guys helped create something for the writers and, for Naya and I, that made an impact that will last for a lifetime and beyond then. So I want to thank everyone here watching and I want to thank all the fans for your love and support. I want you to know that we are all here with you, that grief looks different on everybody and I want you to be gentle and kind to yourself during this time. I think many of you may feel very far away and I hope this message will help you feel closer.”

Wow.

You can watch her full video, and all she has to say about Rivera and her relationship with the talented actress, here: