'Live Forever': Naya Rivera's 9-Year-Old Son, Josey, Watches Her Old 'Glee' Performances After Her Tragic 2020 Death

Buzz Feed

10-03-2025

Last month, Ryan Dorsey opened up about the impact that Naya Rivera's tragic death has had on their son, Josey, who was just 4 years old when the Glee star lost her life in a boating incident at age 33. In July 2020, Naya had taken Josey on a boat trip in Lake Piru, California, but drowned when she was unable to get back onto the rented boat as it started to drift.
At the time, the incident report on Naya's death concluded that she had exhausted herself getting Josey back onboard, and he was found alone on the boat sometime later.
Naya was married to Ryan between 2014 and 2018, and they had a healthy co-parenting relationship at the time of her death. Ryan was at Big Bear Lake, California, for a friend's birthday when Naya and Josey embarked on the fateful boat trip, and was in the supermarket when Naya's mom called to say that Naya had gone missing. Speaking to People magazine, Ryan recalled collapsing 'into a pallet of drinks' before speeding the 145 miles to Lake Piru. He said: 'I just wanted to get to Josey.'
A search-and-rescue team looked for Naya for five days before her body was discovered, and after her funeral, Ryan took Josey back to his home state of West Virginia to escape the paparazzi.
Afterward, Naya's sister Nickayla moved in with them for a year to help take care of her nephew, who, Ryan revealed, still carries a tremendous amount of guilt over his mom's death.
When speaking to People last month, Ryan detailed just how much Josey, now 9, remembers of Naya's passing, sharing: '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.'
'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,' Ryan added. '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. I think she just got caught up in a brush — that or a weird undercurrent from the dam. It was just a freak occurrence."
And in a new interview with People, Ryan has detailed some of the ways that he tries to keep Naya's memory alive for Josey through the projects she starred in before her death, including Glee: The 3D Concert Movie, which was released in 2011.
"He sat there and he watched the whole movie, and you could see his eyes welling up a little bit," Ryan, who is also an actor, told the publication. "But he's a strong boy, and he has a lot of content and episodes. His mom will live forever. I think that's a silver lining of this terrible situation."
However, Ryan went on to add that he personally struggles to watch Naya's work, saying: 'Pictures are hard enough. I can't just sit there and watch her sing, it's hard for me.'
"Sometimes they're happy reminders but a lot of times, even if it's happy, the reality is it's a lot of what could've been, what should've been," he said of his memories of Naya. "A lot of second-guessing everything and wondering how things might've played out if the tiniest decision we make really changes the course of events of life."
Ryan also said that it was imperative to him that Josey maintain a close relationship with Naya's family, even after they moved away from Los Angeles. He explained that they travel back for visits regularly, where they stay with Naya's mom.
Instagram @dorseyryan / Via instagram.com
"I love her family so much: her dad, her mom, her sister, her brother, we all get along so good and we're all still close," he said. "We're, obviously, even closer now, and we stay at grandma's. He's really close to both sides of his family, and we make sure of that."