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Naya Rivera is gone but not forgotten. Those who knew her best continue to pay tribute to her memory.
Millions of fans continue to grapple with the tragedy of her 2020 death.
Obviously, her family and loved ones feel this loss more keenly. And her young son, who was with her when she died, has grief and trauma that are unique to him.
A heartbreaking new interview reveals Naya’s last words to her son — and the misplaced guilt that he feels over her passing.
It is not Josey’s fault that Naya Rivera died, but he still feels guilt over it
Naya Rivera’s ex-husband, Ryan Dorsey, has spoken about his late ex and their son. However, he had not done a sit-down interview in the nearly 5 years since her passing — until now.
Speaking to People, he shared how their son, 9-year-old Josey, feels a sense of misplaced guilt over his mother’s death. No one else on the planet expected the then-4-year-old to miraculously save his mother from drowning in Lake Piru.
“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,” Dorsey shared. “I keep reassuring him, ‘Buddy, that rope wasn’t going to be long enough.’”
Like most 4-year-olds, Josey was able to form clear memories of this traumatic day. He recalls how windy it was when they went out onto the lake in the rental boat.
“Don’t be silly!” Naya reportedly told Josey when he expressed his concerns.
Notably, Ryan Dorsey filed a wrongful death lawsuit against Ventura County. Settled in 2022, the suit noted that the rental boat lacked an anchor or flotation devices.
What happened on the day of Naya Rivera’s tragic death?
Without an anchor, the rental boat was drifting. According to Ryan Dorsey, Naya Rivera told Josey to swim back to the boat.
He remembers grabbing “the tanks” and pulling himself “around the boat.”
Reports from the investigation say that Naya spent her last bits of energy making sure that he was able to get back up onto the boat. She succeeded.
“He said that the last thing she said was his name,” Ryan Dorsey revealed grimly.
“And then she went under,” he continued, “and he didn’t see her anymore.”
He expressed: “It just rocks my world that he had to witness her last moments.”
‘It just rocks my world that he had to witness her last moments’
“We made this book of memories for Josey that sits by his bed, and during the holidays he was crying looking at it,” Dorsey explained of how Josey copes.
“You can only give him a hug,” he reasoned. “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.’”
That is sound advice. Tragedy happens without warning or reason, and survivors have to process it. Losing Naya Rivera will never be an easy thing for her son.
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