It’s been nearly five years since Naya Rivera died at 33 years old in an accidental drowning incident while taking her son, Josey — who turns 10 in September — on a boat trip in Lake Piru, Calif. And now, the Glee star’s ex-husband, actor Ryan Dorsey, is speaking out about her death and raising their child alone for the first time in depth, sitting down with People for an on-camera interview posted Wednesday (Feb. 12).
Looking back on the day he first got the call that Rivera had gone missing in July 2020 — with authorities at the time finding then-4-year-old Josey sleeping alone on a boat rented by the singer-actress, who was nowhere to be found — Dorsey said he was full of confusion and fear. “I instantly said, ‘What do you mean? She knows how to swim,’” he told the publication. “I didn’t know what to think, but I feared the worst.”
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Rivera’s disappearance quickly made national headlines, with fans, friends and Glee cast members all joining together at the time to voice their fears and pray for her safe return. Dorsey said he immediately drove to Lake Piru from Big Bear, Calif., speeding and “chain-smoking cigarettes” the whole drive before reuniting with Josey as authorities embarked on a search for Rivera’s body.
“It was the worst five days of my life,” recalled the actor, who says it’s still difficult to see photos of his ex-wife, much less hear songs that remind him of her (such as Amy Winehouse’s “Valerie,” which she famously covered on Glee).
One day after Rivera’s body was finally found in a remote part of the lake — sparking an outpouring of messages of grief from those who knew her, including numerous Glee costars and ex-boyfriend Big Sean — examiners ruled her death an accidental drowning and posited that she had used all of her strength to push Josey back onto the boat before she succumbed to the strength of the water. According to Dorsey, Josey has since been able to recall heartbreaking moments from the tragedy, such as how he and his mom had jumped off the boat to take a swim before Rivera noticed that the boat was drifting away, after which she instructed her son to swim back toward it.
“He said that the last thing she said was his name, and then she went under, and he didn’t see her anymore,” Dorsey told People. “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. 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,” Dorsey added. “I think she just got caught up in a brush — that or a weird undercurrent from the dam. It was just a freak occurrence.”
Rivera and Dorsey had an on-again, off-again relationship. After getting back together following a breakup, the pair tied the knot in 2014 and welcomed Josey the next year; the Sorry Not Sorry later filed for divorce in 2016.
Dorsey has now spent the last four and a half years raising Josey as a single dad, moving to West Virginia after Rivera’s funeral to escape paparazzi. The actor says the experience has affected his approach as a parent. “I treat him differently than I would a normal kid because of what he’s been through. … For me, it’s not a big deal if he hears a bad word or if he sees someone get killed on TV,” Dorsey told the publication.
Josey is also definitely “his mama’s son, because when he doesn’t get the answer he wants, he keeps talking,” Dorsey added, smiling fondly. “He likes to talk, and that’s Mama for sure.”
Watch Dorsey’s emotional interview about Rivera below.
