It’s been one month since former “Glee” star Naya Rivera tragically drowned at the age of 33. Now, the legendary singer Gloria Estefan, who played Rivera’s mother on “Glee,” is speaking out to pay tribute to her.

Entertainment Tonight reported that Estefan portrayed Maribel Lopez, the mother of Naya’s character, Santana Lopez, on two episodes of the iconic FOX show. Estefan told radio host Andy Cohen that she bonded with Rivera as soon as they met.

“When I was there, they were at their peak of fame. A lot of the kids were great,” Estefan recalled. “A lot of them weren’t handling fame that well and didn’t have the kind of rapport that Naya had. Naya was really down to earth and warm. It was a joy to play her mom. She had really amazing chops, singing.”

She added that they spent time together even after she wrapped her role on “Glee.”

“We met her and spent time with her not only during the shoot but after because she was trying to work on music and she’d been talking to Emilio about producing an album,” Estefan said, referring to her music producer husband, Emilio Estefan. “We were producing music for her.”

She explained that it was only Rivera’s pregnancy and marriage that postponed the release of the music she was working on with them.

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. Though it took five days to find her body, Estefan immediately feared the worst.

“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.”

As for Rivera’s legacy, Estefan hopes her on-screen daughter will be remembered as one of the greats.

“I hope she’s remembered as a wonderful triple threat. She really was one of our young acting talents and dancing and singing,” Estefan said. “It’s just such a shame. It broke my heart when I saw that picture of her mother on her knees by that lake. I can only imagine what that felt like. Nobody wants to be in that situation.”