Glee's Kevin McHale Recalls How Jenna Ushkowitz and Naya Rivera Once Held 'Intervention' to Halt His Steroid Use

The 'Glee' star said taking prednisone while he was "sick as a dog" ultimately "turned me into a monster" — but thanks to costars Jenna Ushkowitz and Naya Rivera, he decided to stop

Kevin McHale is looking back on some of his not-so-glamorous memories from his time on Glee – including one time his costars Jenna Ushkowitz and Naya Rivera stepped up while he was battling an illness.

On the latest episode of the And That's What You REALLY Missed podcast, which McHale co-hosts with Ushkowitz, the actor recalled a time in 2011 when he was sick and his two costars held an “intervention” to stop him from using steroids.

As McHale, 35, explained on the podcast, he had been “sick as a dog” during a busy filming time and was prescribed prednisone, a steroid, to help manage the symptoms.

“We had just started filming the Super Bowl episode at this time. I think we were filming two episodes at the same time [and] in the middle of it, flying to England,” said McHale, who played Artie Abrams on the Fox series. “I was sick as a dog on all kinds of medicine including prednisone."

"It turned me into a monster," he admitted, before noting that it did "give him the courage" to "fight" for his solo in the "Thriller/Heads Will Roll" mashup performed during the season 2 episode, "The Sue Sylvester Shuffle."

Related: Kevin McHale Calls 'The Price of Glee' Docuseries Trash: 'Don't Make Me Speak on This Again'

The Glee star said that, while on the plane to England, he was having dinner with costar Cory Monteith when Ushkowitz, 37, and Rivera — who tragically drowned in July 2020 at age 33 — confronted him about his steroid use.

“You were all like, 'So, hey, why are you taking these steroids?' I’m like, 'Well, because I’m sick, I’m supposed to take them,'" he recalled. “You were like … 'I think you should stop taking them.’ And I was like, ‘Why?!’”

McHale then said his costars told him, “You’re not sleeping. You’re acting crazy. You need to stop taking them.”

Struck by their words, the actor agreed to stop immediately. “I hadn't slept in days,” he admitted. “I was losing my mind.”

While Ushkowitz — who played Tina Cohen-Chang on the series — acknowledged the prescription was “needed” and “necessary” at first, McHale said he was still glad he stopped taking the steroid.

“It was a hard lesson to learn,” he said of the ordeal.

Related: 'Glee' 's Jenna Ushkowitz and Harry Shum Jr. Ate Gross Food Before Makeout Scenes to Make It More 'Interesting'

Ushkowitz and McHale costarred on the Ryan Murphy-created series from 2009 to 2015, along with Rivera, Monteith, Lea Michele, Dianna Agron, Chris Colfer, Matthew Morrison, Jane Lynch, Amber Riley, Darren Criss, Harry Shum Jr., Heather Morris, Jyama Mays and Chord Overstreet, among others.

In 2019, Ushkowitz and McHale launched their first Glee podcast together, Showmance. The project initially began as a way for the pair to discuss how their working relationship transformed into a real-life friendship off-screen, but it eventually transitioned into a Glee recap podcast.

However, Showmance went on an indefinite hiatus in July 2020 following the unexpected death of Rivera, who played Santana Lopez on the series.

Related: 'Glee' Reunion! Lea Michele and Darren Criss Reunite to Sing Iconic 'Glee' Cover for 'Carpool Karaoke' (Exclusive)

In 2022, Ushkowitz and McHale rebranded to their current Glee rewatch podcast, And That's What You REALLY Missed.

At the time, Ushkowitz told PEOPLE that they planned to "really kind of dig into what was going on in the world as well, in pop culture, in politics, in the ways that I think the writers were probably inspired and impacted to write for the show."

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The duo, with the help of their costars, have also used the podcast to look back on their favorite memories from the show — something McHale notes was primarily a positive experience despite the negative news that frequently came out of the series, like the sudden deaths of Rivera, Monteith and Mark Salling, and tension among costars.

"Actually, I think Jenna said this. She said, 'For every one bad or negative thing that happened, there were a hundred positive and joyful things that happened,'" he told PEOPLE in November 2022. "I think that's probably the biggest misconception that I know for media and social media, it's really easy to latch on to negative, juicy things. But it was the experience for most of us, most of the time, [it] was such the opposite of that."

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