It's never easy to lose a parent, especially as a child.
Late actor Naya Rivera's son Josey was just 4 years old at the time of his mother's tragic drowning death in Lake Piru, California, in July 2020. Josey was with Rivera when she disappeared, and she was the subject of a days-long search afterwards.
In a recent interview with People magazine, Josey's father and Rivera's ex-husband, actor Ryan Dorsey, talked about how Josey is still haunted by his mother's death.
According to Dorsey, Josey, who is now 9 years old, feels guilty and thinks he could have done more.
“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 said he assures him it wasn't his fault.
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Dorsey added:
"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."
People found this addition to the story difficult to hear.
Folks praised Josey for his bravery in a terrible situation.
Rivera and Josey had rented a pontoon boat at Lake Piru for a boating and swimming trip on July 8, 2020, before the Glee star's tragic drowning. After the boat hadn't been returned to the rental place three hours later, officials went out onto the lake and found Josey asleep alone on the pontoon with Rivera nowhere in sight.
It had been a windy day, and according to Josey, and when he expressed fear over going swimming, he remembers his mom telling him, "Don’t be silly!"
But since the pontoon wasn't outfitted with an anchor, it slowly started to drift away from Rivera and Josey, and by the time Rivera noticed, it took all of her energy just to get Josey back to the boat.
In his interview with People, Dorsey recalled how he "collapsed into a pallet of drinks" at a supermarket after getting a call from Rivera’s mom's husband telling him that his ex-wife was missing in the lake, before immediately jumping in his car and speeding to Lake Piru.
Dorsey said:
"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."
"I just wanted to get to Josey."
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 body was eventually found five days later, which Dorsey calls the "worst five days of my life."
Dorsey and Josey eventually relocated from California and are now living in West Virginia.
But things haven't been easy as Josey has had more and more questions about his mom's death.
"We made this book of memories for Josey that sits by his bed, and during the holidays he was crying looking at it," according to Dorsey.
"You can only give him a hug and tell him, 'I know, life is not fair. Bad things happen and there's no reason for it, and you just have to do your best to be a good person.'"
"It's hard trying to explain things that you can't really make sense of no matter what age you are. 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."
We truly with Dorsey and Josey all the best as they navigate live without Naya.
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