In an emotional reveal, Naya Rivera's former partner, Ryan Dorsey, has unveiled intimate details surrounding the final moments of the beloved "Glee" star, who tragically passed away in 2020. During his first sit-down interview post-Rivera's demise, Dorsey opened his heart to People magazine, sharing the burden carried by their 9-year-old son, Josey, who grapples with guilt over his inability to save his mother, who drowned in Lake Piru, Ventura County, California, while swimming with their then-4-year-old sibling.
Dorsey recounted, "Repeatedly, he mentions searching for a life raft with a rope attached, but a menacing spider perched on it scared him off. I continually assure him, 'Buddy, that rope wouldn't have reached far enough.'" Josey further disclosed that the windy conditions made him hesitant to venture into the water, to which Rivera reassured him with a playful, "Don't be silly!"
When Rivera noticed the boat drifting—absent of an anchor or buoyancy devices, leading to a wrongful death lawsuit filed by Josey against Ventura County, settled in 2022—she directed her son to swim back to the boat. According to Dorsey, Josey vividly remembers swimming back to "the tanks" and pulling himself "alongside the boat." The incident report stated that Rivera, exhausted from getting Josey back onto the boat, ultimately succumbed to the waters.
Dorsey shared, "He said her final words were his name, and then she slipped beneath the surface, never to be seen again by him. It shatters my heart knowing he had to witness her last moments." Rivera, who portrayed Santana Lopez in the Fox musical series "Glee," was pronounced dead at 33, her body discovered five days later.
On July 8, 2020, Rivera rented a boat for an outing with her son. When the boat wasn't returned on time, rental staff ventured out to search, finding Josey alone. Authorities embarked on a search for Rivera, led by divers who suspected a "tragic accident." Josey was unharmed and informed investigators about their swim, emphasizing that while he returned to the boat, his mother did not.
Dorsey recounted being at a Ralph's supermarket in Big Bear Lake, California, when Rivera's family notified him of her disappearance. "I crumpled into a stack of drinks," Dorsey said. "The worst fears crowded my mind." En route to Lake Piru, he drove "at speeds exceeding 100 mph with hazards flashing, chain-smoking cigarettes—despite hardly being a smoker—and sobbing uncontrollably."
"All I wanted was to reach Josey," he confessed. "Losing both Naya and Josey would have been unbearable. I'm uncertain how I'd have coped, but I know it wouldn't have ended well." Days before her untimely death, Rivera posted a heartfelt photo of herself and Josey, captioning it, "Just the two of us."
