The recent death of Naya Rivera has many people wondering if the cast of Glee is somehow cursed, because Naya is now the third member of the cast to die. Naya played Santana Lopez on the popular Fox show that aired from 2009 to 2015. She was only 33 years old at the time of her accidental death by drowning. No one could have predicted her tragic death—just like no one could have predicted the tragic deaths of two of her fellow castmates.
More from MamásLatinas: About Naya Rivera and her all-too-short life
The first Glee cast member to die was Cory Monteith, who played Finn Hudson. He was only 31 years old when he died from an accidental overdose. The second cast member to die was Mark Salling, who played Noah “Puck” Puckerman. He was 35 years old at the time. And, of course, there is Naya’s recent death. That’s three young cast members who died too soon. We don’t know if that means the Glee cast is cursed, but they certainly have faced a lot of tragedy. Keep reading for more of the sad and sometimes disturbing details.
Cory Monteith was the first ‘Glee’ cast member to die.
Cory was 31 years old when he died on July 13, 2013. The actor was found dead in a hotel room in Vancouver, British Columbia. According to the coroner’s office, he “died of mixed drug toxicity, involving intravenous heroin use combined with the ingestion of alcohol." His death was ruled an accident.
The show did a tribute episode to Cory’s character.
Glee was still airing and in production when Cory died. The show created an episode called “The Quarterback” that dealt with the loss of Finn, the character Cory played. "He was my person," Lea Michele’s character, Rachel, said during the episode. Rachel was Finn’s love interest on the show.
In real life, Lea was Cory’s love interest.
When Cory died, he and Lea were dating. “I feel like, for me personally, I've lost two people: Cory and Finn," Lea said in an interview with TV Week Australia. "Everyone is asking, 'Is it hard to do this? Is it hard to be back at work?' But the truth is, it's no harder at work than it is in life—so we might as well all be together as a family supporting each other to get through this together."
Mark Salling died on January 30, 2018.
Mark was charged with receiving and possessing child pornography in May 2016. He pleaded guilty to possessing pornographic images of prepubescent children and was scheduled to be sentenced under a plea agreement deal to four to seven years in prison. He would also have to register as a sex offender and pay restitution. He never made it to his sentencing hearing and instead was found dead in a Los Angeles riverbed. The coroner’s office ruled his death as suicide by hanging.
Despite his crimes, Mark was mourned.
“Today we lost another #Glee cast member.Yes, he committed crimes against children.Yes, it's horrific. But #MarkSalling was a broken man, no doubt an abuse victim himself. I loved Mark, and am sad when I consider the devastation of his parents. PLEASE withhold your cruel comments,” wrote Tim Davis, who was a vocal arranger for all six seasons of Glee.
Matthew Morrison posted a picture of himself and his two deceased castmates.
Matthew Morrison, who played Mr. Schuester on Glee, posted a picture of himself between Cory and Mark on the same day that Mark’s body was found. The caption he added to the photo was simple: “ .” With just three emojis the actor was able to express his grief.
Naya must have felt some kind of way because she dated Mark off and on for years.
They met on the set of Glee and dated off and on for about three years, until Mark ended the romantic relationship altogether. “When Mark dumped me, I thought it was the worst thing ever, but can you imagine if that didn’t happen? And I was laying there in bed when the battering ram came through the door?” Naya wrote in her 2016 memoir, Sorry Not Sorry. “I think everyone should have that one relationship where you look back and ask yourself, ‘What the hell was I thinking?’ You’ll learn something and you won’t regret it. Unless, of course, that relationship was with someone who had a sizable stash of child porn on his computer. Then, by all means, regret everything.”
Naya Rivera went missing on July 8, while on a boating excursion with her son.
Naya and her 4-year-old son, Josey, had rented a pontoon boat and gone boating on Lake Piru in Southern California. Later that same day, Josey was found asleep on the boat wearing a life jacket, and Naya was nowhere to be found. Police officers were told by Josey that he and his mother had gone swimming. His mom had been able to help him get back on the boat, but she sank underwater afterward.
On July 13, 2020, Naya’s body was found in the lake where she had gone missing.
On July 13, the Ventura County Medical Examiner’s Office wrote in a statement: “The body of a woman found in Lake Piru on Monday July 13, 2020 has been confirmed as Naya Marie Rivera. The cause of death is drowning, and the manner of death is accident." It appears from what officers learned that the boat may have drifted in strong currents while the two were swimming, and Naya mustered all of the energy she had to save her son but had none left to save herself.
Get this: Naya Rivera’s body was found on the anniversary of Cory Monteith’s death.
File this under goose-bump-inducing details: Naya Rivera’s body was recovered on the seven-year anniversary of Cory Monteith’s death. That’s more than a little strange. It feels like much more than just a coincidence. Of course, there is no explanation for it, but WOW. Just wow.
The date coincidence did not go unnoticed by Lea Michele.
Lea had remained silent during the search for Naya, but when Naya’s body was found on the anniversary of Cory’s death, she broke her silence. She posted three black-and-white photos as a tribute to Cory and Naya in her Instagram stories. She didn’t say anything else, but does she really need to?
So is the cast of Glee cursed? We don't know, and nobody else does either, but we sure hope that this is the last untimely death that befalls anyone associated with the show. Enough already.
