Hollywood star Jane Lynch just spoke out to honor her former “Glee” costar Naya Rivera one month after she tragically drowned at the age of 33.

In an interview with the “Today” show this week, Lynch described River as a “force” whose talent was under recognized.

“She was a force of nature, and it’s just gut-wrenching and heartbreaking that she’s gone,” Lynch said.

Rivera played cheerleader Santana Lopez for six seasons on the Fox series, while Lynch portrayed cheerleading coach Sue Sylvester.

“I think that one of the things that kind of got lost when we were doing the show was what a force she was because there were so many talented people,” Lynch said. “She was one of those people. She wasn’t in every scene, but when she was … she just blew everybody away.”

“I had three-page monologues, so did she,” she added. “It took me a week to get mine – she would do them right off the bat. She’d be changing them and she had no problem with it.”

Lynch went on to talk about the influence Rivera had on young LGBTQ people, as her character Lopez was in a relationship with Brittany S. Pierce, a character played by Heather Morris.

“She was a great advocate and loved the fact that she and Heather Morris had the lesbian relationship on the show and how much that meant to so many young people,” Lynch said.

Rivera tragically drowned in Lake Piru on July 8 after going boating with her four year-old son, Josey. Hours later, he was found on the boat alone sleeping, with Rivera nowhere to be found. Gloria Estefan, who played Rivera’s mother on “Glee,” immediately feared the worst when she heard the young woman was missing.

“When I heard what had happened and I saw that the baby had been on board, even though I was praying beyond words that maybe she’d been caught up in a riptide and somehow ended up landing in some other part around that lake, deep down inside as a mom you know that she would never have left that baby alone on the boat,” Estefan recalled. “So something terrible must have happened.”

This piece originally appeared in UpliftingToday.com and is used by permission.

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