2 months ago
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Ryan Dorsey Pays Tribute to Late Wife Naya Rivera on Her "Heavenly Birthday"
Ryan Dorsey is reflecting on the most heartbreaking period of his life.
For the first time in the almost five years since his ex-wife Naya Rivera—with whom Ryan shared son Josey, now 9—drowned in a tragic accident, Ryan is opening up about the heartbreaking moment he received a call from the husband of Naya’s mother and learned she was missing.
“I instantly said, ‘What do you mean? She knows how to swim,’” he recalled to People in an interview published Feb. 12, noting he was at a grocery store at the time. "He said, 'They jumped in, and Josey got back on, and they're trying to find Naya.' I collapsed into a pallet of drinks. I didn't know what to think, but I feared the worst.”
Ryan said he immediately got into his car and drove the 145 miles to Lake Piru, where Naya had rented a pontoon boat for a day on the water with Josey.
“I drove 100-and-something the whole way with my four-way hazards on, chain-smoking cigarettes,” he added. “And I don’t even smoke, really, and just crying. I just wanted to get to Josey.”
Ryan referred to the time it took a search and rescue team to locate Naya’s body “the worst five days” of his life.
“If we’d have lost both Naya and Josey, I don’t know how I would continue on with my life,” he noted. "I don't know what I would've done, but I'm sure it wouldn't have been good."
Though Josey was only 4 years old at the time, Ryan added that more details about the tragic day have come to his son in the years since the accident, including that the day had been windy and he’d been worried about getting in the water.
Instagram / Ryan Dorsey
“He said that the last thing she said was his name, and then she went under, and he didn’t see her anymore," Ryan remembered, growing emotional. "It just rocks my world that he had to witness her last moments.”
He added that Josey still feels a lot of guilt surrounding the incident, wondering if he could have done something differently.
“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 said. “I keep reassuring him, ‘Buddy, that rope wasn’t going to be long enough.' That obviously still sticks out in his head because he feels like he could have saved her.”
But as Ryan noted, he doesn’t think there’s anything that could have been done.
"I think she just got caught up in a brush,” he speculated. “That or a weird undercurrent from the dam. It was just a freak occurrence."
But despite his devastating history, Ryan says Josey’s life is filled with joy alongside the heartbreak—and that he has a lot of his mother in him.
“He’s definitely his mama’s son, because when he doesn’t get the answer he wants, he keeps talking,” Ryan revealed. "He likes to talk, and that's mama for sure."
He added of his son, “He doesn’t know a stranger. He is such a happy kid.”
For more of Josey’s sweetest moments with his parents, keep reading.
Instagram / Ryan Dorsey
Pre-K Grad
"Fresh outta Pre-K boy!" Naya's ex Ryan Dorsey wrote on Instagram in June 2021. "Next Up Kindergarten! #summertime #proudDad"
Instagram / Ryan Dorsey
Summer 2021 Fun
Naya's ex Ryan Dorsey has a fun pool day with their son in June 2021.
Instagram / Ryan Dorsey
Mother's Day 2021
"We can't say the word happy but we'll say thank you for being a mother & giving me this sweet amazing boy," Naya's ex Ryan Dorsey wrote on Mother's Day 2021, the first since the actress' July 2020 death, alongside this never-before-seen mother-son photo.
Instagram / Ryan Dorsey
Josey & Grammy
"Happy Mother's Day Grammy..." Naya's ex Ryan Dorsey wrote on Instagram on Mother's Day 2021. "Thanks for all the support, unconditional love, all the help, your patience, thoughtfulness, and everything you do. We [red heart emoji] you."
Instagram / Ryan Dorsey
Woof Woof
Naya's ex Ryan Dorsey shared this adorable throwback pic of Josey with their two dogs in March 2021.
Instagram / Ryan Dorsey
Naya's 34th Birthday
In January 2021, Ryan Dorsey paid tribute to his ex on what would have been her 34th birthday with this throwback family photo.
"Just as surreal as it is real that you're gone," he wrote. "If that makes sense, but none of this still makes any sense...34..I could just hear you saying "Ah, I'm old AF now!" Ha...Rest easy old lady..."
Instagram / Ryan Dorsey
Christmas 2020
The two celebrate their first Christmas since Naya's death five months prior.
Instagram / Ryan Dorsey
Tribute to Naya
Naya's ex Ryan Dorsey shared this photo of the late actress and their son, their only child, two weeks after she drowned during a boating trip with the boy.
"This is so unfair...there's not enough words to express the hole left in everyone's hearts," Ryan wrote on Instagram. "I can't believe this is life now. I don't know if I'll ever believe it. You were just here... We were just in the back swimming with Josey the day before. Life just isn't fair."
He continued, "I don't know what to say...I'm thankful for our times and our journey that brought us together and gave us the sweetest and kindest smart little boy we could ever hope for. I remember sometimes you used to get annoyed at me: 'Ryan can you stop snap chatting!' Haha. I'm glad I didn't listen to you because I have hundreds and probably thousands of snaps and videos that Josey will have forever and know his momma loved him more than life, and how much fun we had together as he was growing up. Life is all about good times and bad times but with Josey it makes the bad a little less so because a part of you will always be with us. He'll never forget where he came from. We miss you. We will always love you. Love you Meep."
Instagram / Ryan Dorsey
Father's Day 2020
Naya's ex Ryan Dorsey shared this pic of himself with Josey and one of their dogs, less than three weeks before the actress' death.
Instagram / Ryan Dorsey
New Year's 2020
Naya's ex Ryan Dorsey shared this family pic on New Year's Day 2020, seven months before the actress' death.
Instagram / Ryan Dorsey
Batter Up
"Practice in WalMart makes perfect," Josey's dad Ryan Dorsey wrote on Instagram in November 2019.
Happy Halloween 2019
Josey and dad Ryan Dorsey celebrate Halloween with matching Toy Story costumes.
Instagram / Ryan Dorsey
Happy Halloween 2019 Part 2
Why so ssssserious? The two also dressed up as the Joker and Batman from The Dark Knight.
Cute Cuddles
Just last week, Rivera shared this photo of her cuddling with her little one. "Just the two of us," she captioned the image.
Fashionable Family
The mother-son duo made a stylish pair in this March 2020 photo.
"Perfect Duo"
"Batman and Batgirl," Rivera wrote in November 2019. "Perfect duo."
Birthday Bliss
"I'll love you forever, I'll like you for always, as long as I'm living, my baby you'll be," the Glee star wrote in September 2019. "Happy birthday Josey! Love Mommy."
Matt Baron/Shutterstock
Movie Night
The two attended the Los Angeles premiere of The Lego Movie 2: The Second Part in February 2019.
Cherished Memories
"Camel ridin with my main man!" Rivera wrote in November 2018.
A Winning Team
"We win!" the celeb, who played Santana on Glee, wrote alongside a photo of their 2018 costumes. "#HappyHalloween."
Lots of Smiles
The two rocked out to "Can't Stop the Feeling" in this adorable March 2018 video.
Sweet Snoozes
"Nap buddies," the proud parent wrote alongside this March 2018 photo.
Tons of Love
"[Love] you to the moon and back," Rivera wrote in February 2017. "#Vday."
Happy Times
"[Every day] with him is the most special. #joseysmommy #happymothersday," she wrote in 2016.
A Picture-Perfect Moment
Rivera shared a behind-the-scenes photo from their Fit Pregnancy and Baby shoot in April 2016.
No. 1 Fan
"Coolin' at Petco Park," Rivera wrote in March 2016.
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