Naya Rivera’s Ex Ryan Dorsey Reveals What Son Josey Remembers of Her Ultimate Moments

“He doesn’t know a stranger,” Ryan informed Individuals in a brand new interview of Josey, now 9, who stated his son not solely seems to be like his mom, he shares a lot of her persona. “He’s such a contented child.”

“He’s positively his mama’s son, as a result of when he doesn’t get the reply he needs, he retains speaking,” Dorsey stated. “He likes to speak, and that is mama for certain.”

Dorsey stated that after years of turning down affords to speak about what occurred that fateful day on July 8, 2020 — when 4-year-old Josey noticed his mom drown whereas they have been swimming simply off a rental boat in Lake Piru in Ventura, County, California — he lastly feels able to unpack a few of it.

“There’s simply a lot that occurred,” he informed Individuals, vividly recalling the place he was when he came upon Rivera had gone lacking. Dorsey stated he was in a Ralphs Grocery store at Huge Bear Lake, California, the place he’d gone for a pal’s birthday, when he obtained the decision.

“I immediately stated, ‘What do you imply? She is aware of how you can swim,'” Dorsey recalled. “He stated, ‘They jumped in, and Josey obtained again on, and so they’re looking for Naya.'”

Dorsey stated he “collapsed right into a pallet of drinks,” instantly fearing “the worst.”

He recalled driving “100-and-­one thing the entire means with my four-way hazards on, chain-smoking cigarettes — and I don’t even smoke, actually — and simply crying.” All he might take into consideration was, “I simply needed to get to Josey.”

Josey was discovered alone and asleep on the boat, nonetheless on the lake, simply three hours after his mom had rented it. It will be 5 extra days of search-and-rescue earlier than Rivera’s physique was recovered from the waters.

“It was the worst 5 days of my life,” Dorsey informed Individuals. “There was a worry, what if we don’t discover her? It was simply terrible.”

As for what Josey remembers, Dorsey stated that extra has come again to his son over time about his closing moments together with his mom, with Dorsey having to assuage a few of his guilt.

Dorsey informed the outlet that Josey has stated he remembers it being windy and him worrying about moving into the water, with Rivera telling him, “Do not be foolish!”

Josey stated that after that they had swam round a bit, his mom seen the boat was drifting away. He stated his mother informed him to swim again to the boat. He recollects grabbing “the tanks” on the aspect of it and pulling himself “across the boat,” per Dorsey.

“He stated that the very last thing she stated was his identify, after which she went beneath, and he didn’t see her anymore,” shared Dorsey, tearing up as he informed it. “It simply rocks my world that he needed to witness her final moments.”

“One thing he’s stated again and again is that he was looking for a life raft, and there was a rope, however there was an enormous spider on the rope, and he was too scared to throw it,” Dorsey added. “I preserve reassuring him, ‘Buddy, that rope wasn’t going to be lengthy sufficient.'”

He stated that the element “nonetheless stands out in [Josey’s] head as a result of he looks like he might have saved her.” As for what Dorsey thinks occurred, he stated he believes Rivera “simply obtained caught up in a brush — that or a bizarre undercurrent from the dam.”

In the end, he concedes “it was only a freak incidence,” however on the similar time admitted that he can not help however suppose that if he’d been there, he might have achieved one thing to vary the tragic final result of that day.

“I most likely would have jumped in, and I prefer to suppose I’d’ve saved the day,” he stated. “However then again, I feel possibly one thing unhealthy might have occurred to each of us. I do not know.”

Dorsey, who stated he misplaced 40 kilos after Rivera’s dying on account of stress, thanked her sister Nickayla for shifting in for a couple of yr to assist deal with Josey whereas he completed some work tasks in Vancouver.

Now, Dorsey is feeling the burden of being a single father, making an attempt to juggle a profession as an actor and his tasks to Josey. However he is stored Rivera alive in each of their lives all through the journey.

“We made this ebook of reminiscences for Josey that sits by his mattress, and through the holidays he was crying it,” he informed Individuals. “You’ll be able to solely give him a hug and inform him, ‘I do know, life isn’t honest. Unhealthy issues occur and there is no cause for it, and also you simply need to do your finest to be an excellent individual.'”

“It is arduous making an attempt to elucidate issues you could’t actually make sense of it doesn’t matter what age you might be,” Dorsey stated, including, “I am not an enormous believer in every part occurs for a cause as a result of I can not ever consider a cause why he does not have his mother.”

He stated that shifting again to West Virginia two years in the past with Josey has made issues simpler for the father-and-son. He stated the bills of life in Los Angeles left him unable to organize for Josey’s future.

“It did not make sense to remain as a result of Covid modified our business to the place all my auditions have been on tape, and I can audition in a storage wherever,” he defined. “West Virginia is only a fully totally different place. There’s not a lot to do, however it feels protected and there is no visitors.”

He additionally appreciates the decrease value of dwelling, saying that the phantasm that Rivera’s success and his work in tv means he is rich simply is not the fact. “I did not go away L.A. as a result of we have been simply sitting on a bunch of cash,” he stated.

With an upcoming Apple TV+ challenge within the works he cannot discuss but, and different “journeyman” work, Dorsey stated he is nonetheless ready for his “massive break as a collection common,” hoping that it is “going to occur quickly.”

“There have been so many individuals who have been influential within the enterprise that reached out when Naya died, like, ‘Yeah, we’ll look out for one thing for you and we’ll get you on one thing,'” he stated. “Then they become ghosts. It was disheartening, however it’s nice.”

As for his private life, Dorsey stated that Josey has been pressuring him for years to get on the market as a result of he “needs a brother and a stepmom.” Dorsey known as the sentiment “unhappy however candy,” however feels that asking anybody to join what life with them entails is “lots.”

As a substitute, he retains his deal with Josey and the reminiscence of Rivera. telling the journal, “I’m making an attempt to be the very best guardian that I may be and lift an excellent little man.”