Glee's Kevin McHale Recalls 'Intervention' Naya Rivera & Jenna Ushkowitz Staged for His Steroid Use

Kevin McHale recalled an “intervention” that was staged for him by his Glee co-stars Naya Rivera and Jenna Ushkowitz.

The 35-year-old Glee star, who played Artie Abrams on the hit show, opened up about the moment in an episode of his podcast And That’s What You Really Missed, which he co-hosts with Jenna.

He explained what happened to spark the conversation and how he responded to it. Jenna also shared what she recalled about the confrontation, which was about his use of prescribed steroids.

Read more about Kevin McHale’s intervention…

During the podcast episode, Kevin explained that the conversation went down during a lengthy flight to London, where the cast had a performance on X Factor. It was right around the time they were filming the show’s massive Super Bowl episode, where he had a big part in the mashup of Michael Jackson‘s “Thriller” and the Yeah Yeah Yeahs “Heads Will Roll.”

He recalled being “on all kinds of medicine, including Prednisone, which is a steroid, and it turned me into a monster.” He said that it also gave him the “courage” to perform the big number.

His friends noticed, and they started a conversation.

“Cory [Monteith] and I had dinner together and you and Naya were one over from me,” he remembered. “And you were all like, ‘So hey, so why are you taking these steroids?’”

He replied that he was sick and it was prescribed (which Jenna also reiterated). However, they asked if it was the antibiotic and recommended that he stop taking it if not.

“You’re not sleeping. You’re acting crazy. You need to stop taking them,” they told him, with Kevin ultimately agreeing. “I was like, ‘You’re right.’ I hadn’t slept in days. I was losing my mind,’” he said.

He added that “It was a hard lesson to learn.”

Kevin isn’t the only Glee star to reveal that Naya started a hard conversation with them about their personal battles. More specifically, Heather Morris explained that her on-screen lover addressed her struggles with an eating disorder.