‘Glee’ and Latin Hot List star also recalls a good day with Corey Monteith
Naya Rivera, who stars as the super foxy and supercilious Santana on Glee, is heading up our 2013 Latin Hot List and gracing the flip cover of the new issue of Rolling Stone. In case all that just whets your appetite, here’s some bonus Rivera:
On reality TV:
“That’s how I unwind: red wine and reality TV. I love all the Housewives, but I’ll watch anything, even Honey Boo Boo. There’s something very endearing about reality TV. When you grow up, you’re so busy and you don’t get to be around your family as much as you used to. But then watching other people’s families in their homes, just doing normal things that you miss, it’s nice.”
Watch Chris Colfer Share His Favorite ‘Glee’ Moments
On her first kiss:
“I was 13, and it was a family friend. We were in a movie theater, and our moms were behind us. They used to take us on supervised dates, to go ride go-carts or whatever. It was that Denzel Washington movie where his son was really sick and needed some organ, and he went through hell and high water to get it [John Q]. It was a bad movie. We were like, ‘Let’s go see that really adult, intense movie.’”
On Robin Thicke:
“His first album, A Beautiful World, totally changed my life. It came out when I was 16, and I thought it was the best album ever. I never found anybody who connected with it like I did – my friends were listening to punk rock – until I met Kevin McHale [who plays Artie on Glee]. One day I was talking to him and said, ‘Well, you know, Beautiful World is the best album of all time.’ He said, ‘Wait, you feel the same way about that album?’ So now we play it all the time.”
On cooking:
“I like to throw dinner parties and go all-out – start with a cheese course and then move on to the appetizers. Last night, I bought three holiday magazines from the grocery store – Bon Appetit, Better Homes and Gardens – and started putting the recipes in paper protectors, categorizing them in binders. That’s the little Susie Homemaker in me.”
On her Glee costar, the late Cory Monteith:
“I have so many memories of Cory. This is a good one: two years ago, we were filming a scene and got off at nine o’clock. I said, ‘Do you want to get a drink? I’ll take you to this place that’s really cool, the Roof.’ So we go there and we were sitting in this bungalow by the fire for three and a half hours, drinking these great bourbon cocktails, chatting about life and having a blast. Then I drove him back to the Paramount parking lot, because that’s where his car was, and I played him a bunch of songs I was doing. He was also in a band, so he was always playing me their songs. It was a good day.”
On planning her wedding to hip-hop artist Big Sean:
“I went wedding-dress shopping with my friends, my mom and her best friend, and it was so fun. We rented a stretch limo – and no, I did not call the paparazzi on myself. They live outside my house now that I’m engaged. But we drank a lot of champagne and danced in the limo – seat-dancing. It was really magical. I got to try on dresses and look like a little princess. Dreams are coming true.”
On when she feels most alive:
“In my car on the freeway, playing a great song that I haven’t heard in a long time. Like a dog, with my head out the window and my tongue out.”
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