SHOCKING NEWS: Naya Rivera’s ex-boyfriend Ryan Dorsey speaks out for the first time about the Glee star’s death: ‘The worst 5 days of my life, having to witness it with my own eyes…see more

Dorsey says the couple’s 9-year-old son still “feels like he could have saved her.”

Ryan Dorsey is ready to speak about the sudden death of his ex-wife, Naya Rivera.

For the first time since the Glee star and mother of his child died in a tragic boating incident nearly five years ago, Dorsey has opened up about the devastating call that started it all. Dorsey revealed that he was in a supermarket when he learned from Rivera’s stepfather that she had gone missing while swimming with their then 4-year-old son, Josey.

“I instantly said, ‘What do you mean? She knows how to swim,'” Dorsey recalled in a candid new interview with PEOPLE. “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.”

Dorsey, who was in Big Bear Lake, Calif., for a friend’s birthday party at the time, immediately jumped into his car and sped 145 miles to Lake Piru so that he could reunite with his son.

“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 said. “I just wanted to get to Josey.”

Rivera’s death would not be confirmed until several days later on July 13, 2020, when her body was recovered after a weeklong search. She went missing after embarking on a boating trip with Josey, who was found safe, asleep in a lifejacket, on the drifting boat. According to investigators, Rivera was able to help her son get back into the boat but could not do so herself.

“It was the worst five days of my life,” Dorsey said of the waiting for news while officials searched for Rivera. “There was a fear: ‘What if we don’t find her?’ It was just awful.”

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.”

As for what his son recalls of the traumatic day, Dorsey became emotional while reflecting on the details Josey has shared with him.

“He said that the last thing she said was his name, and then she went under, and he didn’t see her anymore,” Dorsey said, with tears in his eyes. “It just rocks my world that he had to witness her last moments.”

He also spoke to Josey’s resilience in the wake of the tragedy, adding that though he is “such a happy kid,” the loss has also taken a toll on him. “I treat him differently than I would a normal kid because of what he’s been through,” Dorsey said, noting that his 9-year-old son still feels guilt over his mother’s death. “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.'”

Still, Dorsey said his son can’t forget the detail “because he feels like he could have saved her.”

While he described the incident as a “freak occurrence,” Dorsey admitted that he, too, ponders how things would have gone if he had been present. “I probably would have jumped in, and I like to think I would’ve saved the day,” he said. “But on the other hand, I think maybe something bad could have happened to both of us. I don’t know.”

Dorsey married Rivera in 2014, and they welcomed their son the following year. They later hit a rough patch, with Rivera filing for divorce from the Ray Donovan star in 2016, but a month later she had a change of heart and called off their split. The couple ultimately went their separate ways in 2018, with Rivera again filing for divorce. Afterwards, they came to a joint-custody agreement and, Dorsey said, “never had any real turmoil” as co-parents, always putting their son’s needs first.

Related Posts

Rick Ross Gives Daughter a $1 Million Watch and Necklace for Her Birthday

Rapper Rick Ross has decided to postpone his daughter’s lavish Sweet 16 birthday celebration in a sincere show of paternal love and care. Due to the artist’s recent hospitalization for…

Read more

Rick Ross shows off his unique purple supercar at the auto show

At his expansive Promise Land home in Fayetteville, Georgia, on June 3, famed rapper Rick Ross held his second annual car and bike show. The event, which drew thousands of…

Read more

Wiz Khalifa spends time sunbathing with son and friends at unique desert mansion!

The rapper proved he is a doting dad as he spent Easter Sunday with his son Sebastian at a gorgeous Airbnb estate in nearby Palm Desert.   The 29-year-old shared adorable snaps of his…

Read more

Explore Rihanna’s Lavish $13.8M Beverly Hills Mansion She Shared with A$AP Rocky

An$AP and Rihanna Rocky and their two children, RZA and Riоt Rose, reside in a lavish colonial-style residence in Beverly Hills, California, which cost $13.8 million. Amidst the residences of…

Read more

Cookie Johnson Threw Husband Magic Johnson A 60th Birthday Celebration He’ll Never Forget

He stated that at the Nautika Restaurant, the 63-year-old former NBA player and the 64-year-old former model “shared a beautiful night in Dubrovnik, Croatia”. Posts to Instagram with the caption,…

Read more

Davido asks wealthy DJ Khaled to visit his multi-million dollar estate and brag about the supercars he is acquiring

In the early months of 2022, he indulged in a shopping spree, and this article highlights one of the most luxurious properties he acquired. This remarkable residence, known as The…

Read more

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *