© 2026 ABC News

She said that she and Rivera knew how special and impactful their characters' love story was.

\"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,\" Morris shared. \"They were basically writing for the fans. But 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.\"

The actress added that she realizes many of the show's supporters are feeling \"very lost and very far away\" after Rivera's death and said that this feeling is \"completely normal.\"

She said she felt compelled to share the message because she believes the fans heavily influenced their characters' story line. \"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,\" she said.

She urged everyone listening to remember that \"grief looks different on everybody\" and \"to be gentle and kind to yourself during this time.\"

View this post on Instagram

A post shared by Heather Morris (@heatherrelizabethh) on Jul 17, 2020 at 8:19am PDT

The actress previously shared a post featuring photos of her sons, Owen, 4, and Elijah, 6, playing with Rivera's 4-year-old son Josey because she knew that Rivera's son \"meant more than anything\" to her.

Rivera died on July 8th after she accidentally drowned while swimming in California's Lake Piru.

","canonicalUrl":"https://abcnews.com/GMA/Culture/heather-morris-shares-emotional-video-screen-relationship-naya/story?id=72283955","legacySlug":"/culture/story/heather-morris-shares-emotional-video-screen-relationship-naya-72283955","noIndexNoFollow":false},"publishTime":"17:52","publishDate":"08-10-2020","updatedTime":"17:54","updatedDate":"08-10-2020","socialImage":{"alt":"Heather Morris is shown in a screen grab from a video posted to her Instagram account.","credit":"Heather Morris/Instagram","ratio":"16x9","url":"https://s.abcnews.com/images/GMA/heather-morris-main-ht-jt-200810_1597076179878_hpMain_16x9_1600.jpg","width":992,"height":558},"datePublished":"8/10/2020 17:52:00 GMT","video":{"live":false,"id":72283955,"headline":"Heather Morris on grief from Naya Rivera's death","mediaAssetTitle":"GMA HEATHER MORRIS NAYA RIVERA","description":"\"I have been feeling very heavy lately,\" she said.","duration":"2:32","posterImg":{"url":"https://s.abcnews.com/images/GMA/default-img-undefined.png","width":608,"height":342},"video":{"feed":"https://service-pkgabcnews.akamaized.net/opp/hls/abcnews/2020/07/200714_gma_digital_naya_rivera_,500,800,1200,1800,2500,3200,4500,.mp4.csmil/playlist.m3u8"},"playlist":["71822799","71786057","71704183"]},"relatedItems":[{"contentType":"story","date":"July 16, 2020","headline":"Heather Morris remembers Naya Rivera in a post featuring photos of their sons","section":"culture","slug":"/culture/story/heather-morris-remembers-naya-rivera-speak-day-youre-71822799","id":71822799,"image":{"alt":"Heather Morris remembers Naya Rivera in a post featuring photos of their sons","url":"https://s.abcnews.com/images/GMA/rivera-01-as-gty-200716_1594921708180_hpMain_4x3t_240.jpg","credit":"Trae Patton/NBCUniversal via Getty Images","ratio":"1x1"}},{"contentType":"story","date":"July 14, 2020","headline":"'Glee' creators vow to create college fund for Naya Rivera's son","section":"culture","slug":"/culture/story/glee-creators-memorialize-naya-rivera-vow-create-college-71786057","id":71786057,"image":{"alt":"'Glee' creators vow to create college fund for Naya Rivera's son","url":"https://s.abcnews.com/images/International/rivera-gty-02-as-200713_hpMain_4x3t_240.jpg","credit":"Gabriel Olsen/Getty Images","ratio":"1x1"}},{"contentType":"story","date":"July 14, 2020","headline":"'Glee' star Naya Rivera confirmed to have died in accidental drowning","section":"culture","slug":"/culture/story/glee-star-naya-rivera-died-accidental-drowning-medical-71704183","id":71704183,"image":{"alt":"'Glee' star Naya Rivera confirmed to have died in accidental drowning","url":"https://s.abcnews.com/images/GMA/naya-rivera-01-gty-jc-200709_hpMain_4x3t_240.jpg","credit":"Emma Mcintyre/Getty Images, FILE","ratio":"1x1"}}],"relatedContentSection":"news","schemaContent":{"name":"Heather Morris on grief from Naya Rivera's death","description":"\"I have been feeling very heavy lately,\" she said.","duration":"2:32","uploadDate":"08-10-2020","publication":"08-10-2020","images":"https://s.abcnews.com/images/GMA/default-img-undefined.png","url":"https://service-pkgabcnews.akamaized.net/opp/hls/abcnews/2020/07/200714_gma_digital_naya_rivera_,500,800,1200,1800,2500,3200,4500,.mp4.csmil/playlist.m3u8","contentUrl":"https://service-pkgabcnews.akamaized.net/opp/hls/abcnews/2020/07/200714_gma_digital_naya_rivera_,500,800,1200,1800,2500,3200,4500,.mp4.csmil/playlist.m3u8","link":"https://www.goodmorningamerica.com/culture/story/heather-morris-shares-emotional-video-screen-relationship-naya-72283955"}},"playlist":[{"id":"132628890","contentType":"story","section":"news"},{"id":"132569874","contentType":"story","section":"news"},{"id":"132567885","contentType":"story","section":"news"},{"id":"132510121","contentType":"story","section":"news"},{"id":"132473181","contentType":"story","section":"news"},{"id":"132497933","contentType":"story","section":"news"},{"id":"132281378","contentType":"story","section":"news"},{"id":"132283010","contentType":"story","section":"news"},{"id":"132273278","contentType":"story","section":"news"},{"id":"132231169","contentType":"story","section":"news"},{"id":"132206748","contentType":"story","section":"news"},{"id":"132200241","contentType":"story","section":"news"},{"id":"132054443","contentType":"story","section":"news"},{"id":"132054798","contentType":"story","section":"news"},{"id":"132033010","contentType":"story","section":"news"},{"id":"131912713","contentType":"story","section":"news"},{"id":"131830583","contentType":"story","section":"news"},{"id":"131834976","contentType":"story","section":"news"},{"id":"131554765","contentType":"story","section":"news"},{"id":"131554815","contentType":"story","section":"news"}],"kvps":{"pgtyp":"article","lang":"en","sp":"goodmorningamerica","programmatic":"true","bundleId":"com.abcnews"}},"analytics":{"accountID":"wdgnewwdgnewgmaweb","ns":"gma","pageName":"gma:culture:video","pageType":"video","globalSpecVersion":"v1.08","siteDifferentiator":"gma:site","tagID":"g_page01","userABCookie":"0","section":"culture","title":"Heather Morris on grief from Naya Rivera's death","pubTime":"13:52","pubDate":"08-10-2020","modTime":"13:54","modDate":"08-10-2020","taxonomyTags":"none","id":72283955,"editorialOtherSubjects":"","wordCount":"none","columns":"none","authors":"Chris Cirillo ","authorsUnit":"none","authorsBureau":"none","subBrand":"Good Morning America","provider":"Good Morning America","videoName":"Heather Morris on grief from Naya Rivera's death","mediaAssetTitle":"GMA HEATHER MORRIS NAYA RIVERA","videoId":72283955,"mediaOnPage":"video","legacySlug":"/culture/story/heather-morris-shares-emotional-video-screen-relationship-naya-72283955"},"taboola":{}},"request":{"headers":{},"httpVersion":"1.1","method":"GET","url":"/video/72283955","vary":{"host":"www.goodmorningamerica.com","cached":true,"path":"/video/72283955","forwarded-proto":"https","device":"desktop","userab":"0"}},"viewport":{"width":1260,"height":0},"user":{}};