Naya Rivera’s Father Speaks Out in ‘The Price of Glee’ Teaser: ‘Fame Can Be Poisonous’
Investigation Discovery dropped the teaser for its upcoming docuseries The Price of Glee on Thursday (Dec. 8) and in the clip, Naya Rivera‘s father breaks his silence on his daughter’s tragic death.
The preview lays out the history of the cast behind the ultra-popular Fox musical series, including the deaths of Cory Monteith, Mark Salling and Rivera in, respectively, 2013, 2018 and 2020.
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“Three major cast members dead?” one interviewee says in the video, while another adds, “I don’t want to say the C-word, the ‘curse’ word, but that’s where your mind goes.”
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Rivera’s father looks back on her success and the popularity she found playing fan-favorite character Santana Lopez over the show’s six seasons. “I knew that was the top of the mountain for Naya,” he says in his confessional. “For your kid, it was just surreal.”
He gives one more sound bite, declaring, “Fame can be poisonous,” though the context for his statement isn’t immediately clear in the moment. Later, the teaser cuts to a clip of the press conference held after Rivera’s body was found in California’s Lake Piru, where she drowned in July 2020. “She mustered enough energy to get her son back onto the boat. But not enough to save herself,” a law enforcement officer giving a press conference explained at the time.
The trailer also touches on Monteith’s death from an accidental drug overdose in the middle of filming Glee’s fifth season, as well as Salling pleading guilty to possession of child pornography and his subsequent suicide before he could be sentenced to any jail time.
In March, Rivera’s family settled their wrongful death lawsuit with Ventura County.
The Price of Glee premieres Jan. 16 on Investigation Discovery and can also be streamed on Discovery+. Watch the teaser below.
