It’s hard to believe that it has already been nearly five years since Glee star Naya Rivera’s tragic death, but now her ex Ryan Dorsey is opening up about it in his first interview since that day. As Ryan raises the son they shared – Josey, who is now 9 years old – it seems the boy is sharing more and more about his mom’s death, including the way he tried to save her from drowning, according to what Ryan told People.
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Josey, who was just 4 years old at the time, was there when his mom died on July 8, 2020. The two were out on Lake Piru in California, using a boat they’d rented for the day when they jumped into the water to go for a swim. When Naya realized the boat was drifting, she told Josey to swim back. He made it, but heartbreakingly, his mom never did, and it took five days before her body was found.
Ryan found out what happened from Naya’s mom’s husband and told People he sped to the lake, crying. Josey was eventually found asleep and floating on the boat alone hours after his mom had drowned.
“I just wanted to get to Josey,” Ryan shared with People. “If we’d have lost both Naya and Josey, I don’t know how I would continue on with my life. I don’t know what I would’ve done, but I’m sure it wouldn’t have been good.”
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Ryan shared that his son has said he wanted to save his mom by throwing her a rope to hold onto once he made it to the boat but was scared.
“Something he’s said over and over is that he was trying to find a life raft, and there was a rope, but there was a big spider on the rope, and he was too scared to throw it,” Ryan told People. “I keep reassuring him, ‘Buddy, that rope wasn’t going to be long enough.'”
Of the moment Naya drowned, Ryan said, “He said that the last thing she said was his name, and then she went under, and he didn’t see her anymore. It just rocks my world that he had to witness her last moments.”
Now, Ryan tries to keep Naya’s memory alive for Josey.
“We made this book of memories for Josey that sits by his bed, and during the holidays he was crying looking at it,” he said. “You can only give him a hug and tell him, ‘I know, life is not fair. Bad things happen and there’s no reason for it, and you just have to do your best to be a good person.'”
