Naya Rivera reveals she had an abortion while starring on ‘Glee’

Naya Rivera—best known for her role as Santana on Fox’s musical dramedy Glee—is opening up. The 29-year-old actress describes both her teenage struggles with anorexia and her decision to have an abortion in 2010 in her upcoming memoir, Sorry Not Sorry.

Rivera discusses her book in the new issue of People, which features an excerpt from the autobiography. She explains that she terminated her pregnancy during a day off from filming Glee, shortly after breaking up with then-boyfriend actor Ryan Dorsey, in order to focus on her burgeoning career. Dorsey and Rivera have since reunited, married, and share an 11-month-old son, Josey. “I hope Josey will read [the book] one day. I hope it gives him a better perspective on the issues women face,” she told People.

In a time when women’s reproductive rights and access to healthcare are still under attack, a celebrity publicly shouting her abortion is a remarkably powerful act.

“It was very scary to open up about everything,” Rivera said in People. “It’s not something a lot of people talk about, but I think they should. I know some people might read it and say, ‘What the hell?’ But I hope someone out there gets something out of it.”

Molly Fitzpatrick is senior editor of Fusion’s Pop & Culture section. Her interests include movies about movies, TV shows about TV shows, and movies about TV shows, but not so much TV shows about movies.