Naya Rivera’s ex-husband reveals one thing their son, 9, repeats ‘over and over’ after watching her drown

Naya Rivera’s ex-husband has revealed the one thing that still affects their nine-year-old son after witnessing her death.

The former Glee star died just 33 years old when she drowned while swimming with her little boy, Josey, on 8 July 2020 at Lake Piru, California.

Rivera was considered missing for several days, as the youngster, who was four-years-old at the time, was found asleep in a lifejacket on the rental boat without his mother.

Her body was eventually recovered, with an investigation into her death concluding that she had died as a result of drowning due to exhaustion when rescuing her son (via The Hollywood Reporter).

And now, five years after her tragic death, Rivera's ex-husband, Ryan Dorsey, has opened up about his grief for the very first time - explaining that Josey keeps on repeating one specific thing when talking about the devastating incident.

Speaking to PEOPLE magazine this week, the 41-year-old began by reflecting on the moment he discovered his ex-wife was missing, revealing he'd been in Ralphs supermarket when Rivera's mother, Yolanda, called to inform him she was missing.

"I instantly said, 'What do you mean? She knows how to swim,'" Dorsey told the publication. "She said, ‘They jumped in, and Josey got back on, and they’re trying to find Naya.'

Glee star Naya Rivera tragically drowned in 2020 (Paul Archuleta / Contributor / Getty Images)

"I collapsed into a pallet of drinks. I didn’t know what to think, but I feared the worst."

Dorsey went on to reveal that their son - who is now nine years old - still has harrowing memories of watching his mother sink beneath the waves.

"He said that the last thing she said was his name, and then she went under, and he didn’t see her anymore," he revealed.

"It just rocks my world that he had to witness her last moments."

The father-of-one added that Josey is still riddled with guilt over the notion that he could have saved his mother.

"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 explained.

"I keep reassuring him, 'Buddy, that rope wasn’t going to be long enough.'

Rivera's ex-husband, Ryan Dorsey, says their son still remembers his mother drowning (Instagram/@dorseyryan)

"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."

Dorsey added that, while he wasn't there when Rivera drowned, he believes he 'probably would have jumped in' and 'saved the day'.

"But on the other hand, I think maybe something bad could have happened to both of us," he quickly continued, however. "I don’t know."