Naya Rivera’s ex-husband Ryan Dorsey is talking publicly in regards to the “Glee” actor’s 2020 loss of life for the primary time.
In an emotional interview with Folks printed Wednesday, Dorsey stated his 9-year-old son, Josey, feels guilt over not having been in a position to save his mom from drowning in California’s Lake Piru.
“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,” Dorsey defined. “I keep reassuring him, ‘Buddy, that rope wasn’t going to be long enough.’”
Dorsey continued: “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.”
Rivera was declared lacking on July 8, 2020, whereas on a boating and swimming journey on Lake Piru. Officers discovered Josey, who was 4 years outdated on the time, asleep on a pontoon boat Rivera had rented earlier that day.
Gregg DeGuire through Getty Photos
Dorsey, recognized for his roles on “Justified” and “Ray Donovan,” and Rivera cut up in 2018 after about 4 years of marriage, however loved an amicable co-parenting relationship. The actor stated he instantly “feared the worst” when he acquired a name from Rivera’s stepfather informing him that his ex had gone lacking.
“I instantly said, ‘What do you mean? She knows how to swim,’” he recalled, noting he was in a grocery store in Massive Bear Lake, California, when he took the decision. “He said, ‘They jumped in, and Josey got back on, and they’re trying to find Naya.’ I collapsed into a pallet of drinks.”
He stated instantly left the grocery store and headed to Lake Piru, about 145 miles away.
“I drove 100-and-something the whole way with my four-way hazards on, chain-smoking cigarettes — and I don’t even smoke, really — and just crying,” he stated. “I just wanted to get to Josey.”
Stefanie Keenan through Getty Photos
He added, “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.”
Rivera’s loss of life was confirmed just a few days afterward July 13, when her physique was retrieved from a distant space of the lake. She was 33.
The Folks interview seems to be the primary time Dorsey, 41, has spoken at size about Rivera’s loss of life. In 2021, he marked the 1-year anniversary of his former partner’s passing with a heartfelt tribute on Instagram, a lot of which served as an replace on Josey.
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“He misses you but knows he’ll see you again,” he wrote, “and the invisible string is something that’s helped us out during this ever-evolving transition of your time with us on earth that was unfairly and for reasons we’ll never understand cut short… too soon…”
In his Folks chat, Dorsey confirmed that he and Josey had relocated from Los Angeles to West Virginia about two years in the past. Describing his son as “such a happy kid,” he nonetheless acknowledged that the vacation season is a very fraught time for the 2.
“It’s hard trying to explain things that you can’t really make sense of no matter what age you are,” he stated. “I’m not a big believer in everything happens for a reason because I can’t ever think of a reason why he doesn’t have his mom.”
