Five years have passed since the tr@gic de@th of actor Naya Rivera Her ex-husband Ryan Dorsey has spoken out in his first-ever in-depth interview in which he recounts the heartbreaking last moments Rivera shared with their son Josey prior to her tr@gic de@th.
On the 8th of July 2020 Rivera as well as her four year-old Josey took a dip in the lake during a trip to Lake Piru in Southern California and rented the pontoon boat to go on an outing for a private party.
Tr@gically, Rivera never returned to the shore and was subsequently declared missing. The body was discovered five days later on the 13th of July, following an extensive search operation. She was only 33 years older.
In a recent interview with PEOPLE, Dorsey has revealed the most heartbreaking details Josey recalls of that moment, such as the last words that his mother spoke to him.
“She told him, ‘Don’t be silly,’ when he said he was scared to swim,” Dorsey told the press. “She was trying to comfort him. .”
Josey took a dip in the sea along with Rivera but the boat they hired was slipping away. In the final moment, Rivera focused entirely on getting her son back on the boat.
Dorsey said the fact that Josey recounted the event in great detail, recalling that he was holding onto “the tanks” as his mother helped him get back to safety. The last thing she spoke was his name, after that, she disappeared and he couldn’t find her again, Dorsey recalled.
The now nine-year-old has been struggling with lingering guilt. He is constantly recalling this moment by referring to a rope that was on the boat. He said that he saw a rope but there was a huge spider on it and he was scared to try it, Dorsey explained.
He believes that if he’d just dropped it, he may be able to save her. I continue to tell him “Buddy, that rope isn’t long enough. You shouldn’t have done anything. That incident is still a big issue for him, he said.
Dorsey thought about the causes that could have led to the drowning of Rivera, describing it as an “freak occurrence,” possibly due to the underwater brush or an intense undercurrent. “I’d like to think if I had been there, I could’ve saved her,” Dorsey said. However, we might have been in danger. I’ll never know.
He also recalled the terrifying moment when he was first informed about Rivera’s disappearance. Dorsey is now 41 and was out shopping for groceries at Big Bear Lake when he received a phone call from the stepfather of Rivera, who informed the stepfather the fact that Naya had gone missing.
“I just dropped to the ground,” he told me according to The Independent. I was shocked. The car I was driving like a madman to to Josey and cried all the way. I was chain smoking even though I’m not a smoker.
in 2022 the family of Rivera reached an unjustified de@th settlement through Ventura County, where Lake Piru is situated.
The lawsuit claimed that there was not enough safety signs and warnings surrounding the lake, as per Sky News. The settlement will ensure it is certain that Josey can be economically stable in the years to come.
The fact that the sum of money will never ever replace his mother, the family’s statement reads that they are grateful for the settlement. will assist Josey to build a better future that his mother would have desired for Josey.