Ryan Dorsey Shares Positive Update on Son Josey's Well-Being Three Years After Naya Rivera's Death

Ryan Dorsey is giving an update about his son, Josey.

The 39-year-old actor is navigating single parenthood following Naya Rivera‘s heartbreaking death from drowning in 2020. Fans will recall that Josey was on the trip with Naya when the accident occurred.

While promoting his role on the upcoming episode of Magnum P.I., Ryan opened up about raising Josey as a single dad, the difficult conversations that they have together about Naya, and more.

Keep reading to find out more…

In his first interview with E!, Ryan admitted that he takes the difficult conversations as they come.

“A lot of the kids find out what his Dad does for work. They’ll also find out about his Mom, which is always something that’s tough to navigate,” he shared with the outlet. “It’s always a reminder of the obvious.”

He then added that it’s “something that’s never going to change is what happened and him having to deal with it daily. As he crosses these milestones as a kid growing up, kids talk about their Moms at school and dealing with his situation is very unique.”

Ryan also shared that Josey has become more curious about Naya.

“He’s never going to forget his Mom,” he says. “He’s interested in watching things and looking at her work one day. That stuff will speak for itself and he’ll really get to appreciate the impact she had on people and how talented she was and who his Mom was on the outside, not just in his home life.”

In a separate interview with ET, Ryan admits that “some days are harder than the others and some days… I’m optimistic and some days I’m sad. I guess that’s for everybody in life, but it’s hard for me when Josey will say certain things and if he misses his mom or whatever it is or he’ll bring up certain moments that obviously he’ll never forget from the worst day of his life.”

“And there’s not much for me to say except I just say, ‘I know buddy and I love you,’ and I just give him a hug. Just some human dad to son contact and rub his head and squeeze him because it’s all I can do because I don’t really have any answers,” he shared. “I’m not one of those, ‘Everything happens for a reason,’ type of people. When I was younger I was, but then you get older and you see what’s going on in the world, it’s hard for me to get behind… that kind of mantra.”

As far as navigating single fatherhood, Ryan says that he’s “doing the best I can” and as far as Josey‘s wellbeing goes, “he’s, overall, a happy kid and I’m trying to keep it together and provide a safe and happy life for him. He’s doing really well in school and he has a lot of friends. He’s such a social kid. Everybody loves Josey and he’s funny.”

Just recently, the cast of Glee opened up about how Naya‘s death affected them all.