Naya Rivera’s ex-husband Ryan Dorsey has shared heartbreaking new details about her death almost five years on.
The Glee actress, 33, died while swimming in a river with the couple’s son Josey, now nine, on July 8, 2020.
The mother and son had decided to rent a boat at Lake Piru in Ventura County, California that day.
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In an interview with PEOPLEJosey told him what happened in the leadup to Rivera’s death.
He had asked his mum if she was “sure about” getting in the water, asking, “Are we gonna die?”, to which Rivera responded, “Don’t be silly”.
It was windy that day, and when they noticed thee boat was drifting away Rivera told her son to swim back to it.
Josey was able to pull himself back up, but his mum didn’t make it.
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Dorsey said their son still feels guilty that he wasn’t able to save her.
“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,” he said.
“I keep reassuring him, ‘Buddy, that rope wasn’t going to be long enough.'”
Josey told his dad the last thing Rivera 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,” Dorsey said.
Josey was just four at the time.
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Dorsey filed a wrongful-death lawsuit against Ventura County over Rivera’s death due to the boat not being equipped with an anchor or floatation devices, which settled in 2022.
Rivera and Dorsey had an on-and-off relationship after first meeting in 2010. The initially dated before breaking up.
Rivera moved onto rapper Big Sean and the couple were engaged but broke up in 2014.
Later that year, Rivera and Dorsey rekindled their relationship and wed. They welcomed son Josey in September 2015.
Rivera filed for divorce in 2016 and their relationship became strained. However at the time of her death, the pair were in contact and co-parenting their son.
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According to Dorsey, they would often exchange phone calls and texts.
Dorsey and Josey remained in California following Rivera’s death before moving to Dorsey’s home town of West Virginia two years ago.
Dorsey said he and his son “made this book of memories for Josey that sits by his bed”.
He said his son encourages him to date, telling his dad he want a stepmother and a “brother”.
Dorsey said he is seeing someone, however their relationship is currently long-distance and he doesn’t know what the future holds.
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