Pregnant Naya Rivera Talks ‘Insane’ Internet Trolls

Some celebrities do everything they can to keep their pregnancy out of the public eye—wear baggy clothes, hide behind giant handbags, and occasionally stay off the red carpet altogether.

But not Naya Rivera. The former Glee star, 28, who announced in late February that she’ll soon be welcoming her first child with husband Ryan Dorsey, has been more than forthcoming about her new addition since almost day one—sharing photos of everything from her custom-designed nursery, to her baby shower, to her bikini-clad bump by the pool.

The expectant actress has also been writing a pregnancy blogger for People, speaking openly about her sex life with a baby-on-board—and of course, posing nude prenatal.

Now in third trimester, Rivera—who’s choosing to keep her baby’s gender a surprise—tells us all about which pregnancy apps she can’t get enough of, her favorite places to shop maternity wear, her post-baby beauty plan, and how she handles Internet trolls.

YS: What’s been the biggest surprise of your pregnancy?

NR: The whole thing, really, has been surprising and new! It’s such a change physically, mentally, and in terms of lifestyle, that I definitely didn’t know what to expect going into it. I have friends who are moms, and you hear stories and stuff, but it’s never the same until you actually experience it yourself. So I think everything has pretty much surprised me.

YS: Have you joined any mommy-to-be support groups?

NR: My friends have been a great support group. It turns out that, like, all of my friends ended up getting pregnant around the same time I did—so we’re kind of all learning together, and we text daily about what else is new, or what’s different, or what’s aggravating us. So we’re all kind of in it together, which is great. We have this kind of built-in mom group now.

YS: Are there any pregnancy websites and apps you’re using a lot?

NR: I’ve been reading What To Expect When You’re Expecting, and I have their app, which I love. There’s also a great app, American Pregnancy, that my friends and I have been using, and my friends will send me articles from The Bump. So those are resources that we’ve been pulling from, for sure.

YS: What about books?

NR: I just started reading this book called Birthing From Within, and it was recommended to me by my doula, and it’s sort of this more ‘granola’ type of pregnancy book about dealing with it and going through it. But the birth classes that we had taken were along those lines too, so I really like them.

YS: Have you been sticking with a strict diet, or indulging?

NR: I’ve been really conscious to make sure that, nutritionally, I’m giving the baby everything that it needs: vegetables and vitamins and all sorts of stuff. I’ve found, like, the best supplements and all of that… but I definitely have my vices, And it’s nice to be able to indulge in them for once. I’m paying the price, but it’s nice!

YS: Any pregnancy cravings?

NR: Ice cream! Never fro-yo.

YS: Have you already mapped out a post-baby beauty plan?

NR: Definitely. I have an entire post-baby plan that I wrote out and continue to look at every day! I definitely need a new hair style—can’t wait for that, my hair has just been so blah—and the workout regimen is gonna be pretty serious.

I love beauty products and getting my hair and makeup done—all that stuff, I incorporate into my daily life when I’m not pregnant. But while I’ve been pregnant, I really just gave up! I was like, “There’s no time and no point right now… there’s just no point!” So I’m just gonna hit restart after, and I think that’ll be fun. It’ll be like an extreme makeover.

YS: What maternity brands have you been loving?

NR: The Paige maternity jeans are really awesome, and Gap maternity has great basics—all of their shirts, I love so much. And then just any wrap dress or things like that… like the dress I wore to my baby shower, but just in bigger sizes, are really good.

YS: Have you continued working out throughout your pregnancy?

NR: I worked out a lot, up until probably the end of my second trimester, when things got a little more difficult. I started out doing pilates, but you can only do that for so long because of the ab workouts. So I had to stop that, and then I was doing prenatal yoga a lot, and then quit that… and then I moved on to the gym, and now I’m just doing the elliptical now and then.

YS: You’ve been blogging about your pregnancy for People. Are you interested in being a “mommy blogger” in the future?

NR: I’ve had a blast writing the pregnancy blog for People, and I’m so grateful that they let me do it. It’s been fun because I’m simultaneously writing my book, and so that’s sort of been the things that I’ve been focused on work-wise during the pregnancy. Hopefully people will connect with it, and I feel like, if they want more, I would love to mommy blog. I think that that’s probably going to be the most fun to talk about, because everything is so new, and kids are so funny, and there’s just such unexpected things. So I think I definitely will look into that.

YS: Is there anything about being pregnant that you wish people talked about more often?

NR: There’s a lot, physically, that changes with your body when you’re pregnant, and I guess no one could’ve warned me about that stuff. But being in the public eye when you’re pregnant is really, really hard, and people can be so mean on the Internet, it’s insane. Pregnancy is such a beautiful time to me, and I feel like you should embrace your body in whatever stage it’s in. So it’s kind of hard being an actress, being a celebrity, and having people scrutinize how you physically look, and just saying the craziest things.

YS: How do you deal with that?

NR: I just keep in mind that I’ve never met these people, and they’ve never had the privilege of meeting me, so they’re, like, strangers as far as I’m concerned. So you can’t really take what they say to heart.