Naya Rivera's ex-husband shares tragic detail about son who tried to save her

The ex-husband of Naya Rivera, Ryan Dorsey, has opened up about the tragic lake accident that took her life in 2020 - and how her young son is living with the aftermath five years on.

The Glee actress was swimming in a California lake in July 2020 with her then-four-year-old son, Josey, when she got into trouble and drowned. The tot managed to make it back onto the boat.

41-year-old Dorsey appeared emotional in a new interview with People, where he described the accident in detail for the first time, including his regret that he never picked up a phone call from his ex-wife.

Naya Rivera's ex-husband shares tragic detail about son who tried to save her Getty

Dorsey says his son, now nine, told him he asked Rivera "are we going to die?" before getting into the water in the lake as it was a windy day - and that Rivera had said, "don't be silly!"

But her final words would end up being her shouting Josey's name.

However, most heartbreakingly, the actor recalls that the thing haunting Josey most is thinking things could have been ended differently if he'd made other choices.

“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 recalls.

"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.”

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

While there's still mystery surrounding what happened to the then-33-year-old, it's thought that she may have been dragged under by a current - a theory with her former husband backs.

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