Tahj Mowry, 34, will never forget his first love Naya Rivera. “She was definitely my first everything,” he said an interview with Glamour magazine, published on Wednesday, June 16, calling the late beauty his “first celebrity crush.” Tahj — who is the younger brother of twins Tia and Tamera Mowry — noted that it was important to be “respectful” of Naya’s family as he reflected on their past romance. “I think subconsciously it’s why I never really date like that because no one really ever… I know someday someone might, but it’s hard to measure up to the type of girl and woman she was,” he added.
Naya was reported missing while swimming at Lake Piru with her son Josey, 5, whom she shared with ex-husband Ryan Dorsey, 37, on July 8, 2020. Upon hearing the news of Naya’s passing, Tahj took to Instagram to share a heartfelt message to for first love. “We grew up together. We became adults together. We experienced so many firsts together. You were my first experience with everything; love, intimacy, heartbreak,” he wrote, posting a stunning black and white picture of Naya. “We broke each other’s hearts and then mended them back together… more than once. I will never not think of you. No woman has ever measured up what you gave me or how you made me feel. I’ve never liked to admit it, but I have never stopped loving you,” he added. Naya was only 33-years-old at the time for her tragic death, which was cited on her autopsy report as an accidental drowning.
Naya and Tahj met in the late ’90s while working on ABC sitcom, Smart Guy, where Naya had a guest role. The costars’ relationship took a romantic turn in early 2000, and the two dated until 2004. The loss of Naya has not been easy on Tahj, who tells the magazine that talking about her death is still very hard for him. “It’s a hard thing to talk about, because to think about her mother and her ex-husband and her child and her sister and her brother…the height of what they went through is times a thousand,” he said. “I almost feel like I can’t even talk about my feelings because they don’t even measure up to the pain that they went through and are still going through. But yes, much love to her entire family-her brother, her sister, her child, and her ex-husband as well,” he added.