On July 8, former Glee star Naya Rivera was reported missing. The actress is said to have rented out a boat on Lake Piru in Ventura County, California with her four-year-old son. However, when the authorities arrived following reports of a lone toddler on the boat, Rivera was nowhere to be found. The search to find Rivera is still ongoing, and a few Glee alumni have posted hopeful messages following Rivera’s disappearance.
Naya Rivera rose to fame as Santana Lopez on Glee before going on to star in the series Step Up: High Water. Rivera had tweeted a photo of her and her son the day before she went missing, captioning the sweet image with “just the two of us.” Since the news broke about her disappearance, Rivera’s former Glee co-stars began posting to social media hoping that she'll be found. Harry Shum Jr, who played Mike Chang, posted to Twitter with a simple-but-effective message. Read what he wrote below.
Heather Morris, who played Rivera's romantic partner on Glee and is a real-life BFF, posted about Naya Rivera’s situation in an Instagram story. Morris echoed Harry Shum Jr, praying for Rivera’s safe return. However, she took it a step further and asked fans for prayers as well. Take a look at her post below.
Singer and Camp Rock actress Demi Lovato also shared a message to her Instagram story, with a photo of a candle included. Lovato was not a series regular on Glee, but she did have a guest-starring stint playing Dani in four episodes during Season 5. Here’s Lovato’s post:
The prayers expanded well beyond Naya Rivera’s Glee co-stars, too. Jackée Harry, who starred in the 1990s sitcom Sister Sister, also took to Twitter to share a message of hope. Harry first met Rivera on the set of the short-lived series The Royal Family and posted a clip of their scene together, which you can watch below.
As you can tell, Naya Rivera is well-loved and everyone wants nothing other than for her to return safely home to her son. The search for Rivera has expanded to include more than 80 people, helicopters, boats, and ATVs. Dive teams from other local counties are also on the way to join in the search. In an update from TMZ, the authorities presumed Rivera is dead as of the morning of July 9, and are now treating the reported incident as a “possible drowning.”
As of this writing, search teams have yet to find Rivera and dive teams found no sign of the actress when they went looking for her in the immediate aftermath of her disappearance. Rivera’s life jacket was also reportedly on the boat where her son was found sleeping. He is reportedly safe and with family at this time.
My heart goes out to Naya Rivera’s family and friends during this harrowing time. Stay tuned to CinemaBlend for updates on the story.
