On the fifth anniversary of the late Naya Rivera’s unexpected death, her ex-husband Ryan Dorsey spoke with about raising their son alone.

“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,” Dorsey told People in an interview.

Their son Josey Hollis Dorsey, now 9, was only 4 when his mother drowned in front of him. In July 2020, Josey spent an afternoon with his mother swimming off a rental boat in Lake Piru in Ventura County, California. 

Dorsey said his son has started to remember specific details about the tragic incident. According to People, Josey recalls the day being windy, which made him afraid to jump into the lake, but his mother told him, “Don’t be silly!”

Moments later, Rivera noticed that their rental boat, which was missing flotation devices and an anchor, was moving with the current. Dorsey sued Ventura County on behalf of Josey and included the lack of equipment as part of the wrongful death claim (which was settled in 2022). 

Josey said his mom instructed him to swim back, and he recalls grabbing “the tanks” and pulling himself “around the boat,” Dorsey said. In the incident report obtained by People, Rivera drowned after exhausting herself getting Josey back on board.

“He said that the last thing she said was his name, and then she went under, and he didn’t see her anymore,” Dorsey said.”It just rocks my world that he had to witness her last moments.”

As a result of Rivera’s death, Dorsey and Josey have been engulfed in grief and have found they have no answers.

“We made this book of memories for Josey that sits by his bed, and during the holidays he was crying looking at it,” Dorsey said. “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.'”

Despite Dorsey’s grief, he sees beauty in how strongly Josey’s personality resembles his mother’s.

“He’s definitely his mama’s son, because when he doesn’t get the answer he wants, he keeps talking,” Dorsey said with a grin. “He likes to talk, and that’s mama for sure.”