It’s only been two months since the world lost bright young star Naya Rivera and her ex-husband, Ryan Dorsey, 37, and younger sister, Nickayla Rivera, 25, are still in mourning. The two have been leaning on one another and on their family since the Glee star passed away at the age of 33 after she tragically drowned in Lake Piru on July 8. Recently, the young model and Ryan, who is the father to Naya’s five-year-old son Josey, were seen in a Los Angeles Target seemingly holding hands on September 19, which you can here.
Clearly, the loss of Nickayla’s sister and Ryan’s former wife is still very fresh for both of them, as they shift their focus to healing and raising sweet little Josey, who was with his mother on Lake Piru when she passed away. In the weeks that followed Naya’s passing, both Ryan and Nickayla issued emotional statements that fully expressed the emptiness they felt after Naya’s death. “Sister, There are no words to describe my love for you. Side by side or miles apart, our connection is infinite. Our bond is unbreakable,” Nickayla wrote in a touching tribute to her sister, posted on Instagram on July 25.
“The yin to my yang. I never knew that by losing you, I would find so much of you in myself. I’ve never known a life without you in it & still can’t imagine it. My world is turned upside down. But through it all, everything we were, we are still. I’ll always look at you with the same eyes as I did when I was young.” Nickayla ended her tribute by saying that she would love Naya “for eternity” and miss her sister “every second” of her life.
The same day that Nickayla issued her public eulogy for her beloved sister, Ryan took to Instagram to make his own statement about Naya, whom he was married to from 2014-2018. “This is so unfair…there’s not enough words to express the hole left in everyone’s hearts. I can’t believe this is life now. I don’t know if I’ll ever believe it,” he began his lengthy and incredibly emotional caption on his July 25 Instagram post, which featured an image of Naya and the former couple’s son, Josey.
Naya Rivera, known widely for her role as Santana Lopez on Glee, tragically died on July 8 of accidental drowning after she and her young son rented a boat on Lake Piru. Josey was eventually found by himself on the boat, and a search for Naya commenced immediately after he was found. Roughly four days after the search for Naya began a body was recovered on July 13 in Lake Piru, and reports would confirm that it was Naya Rivera. Less than two weeks later on July 24, Naya was laid to rest at Forest Lawn Memorial Park. In the time since her passing, she has been remembered by fans, her adoring family, and Glee cast mates like Amber Riley and Heather Morris.