Naya Rivera and Ryan Dorsey Gregg DeGuire/WireImage
Naya Rivera and her ex-husband, Ryan Dorsey, had considered expanding their family after their divorce but before her unexpected death.
“We went back and forth playing house,” Dorsey, 41, told People in an interview published on Saturday, February 15. “We were going to try to have another baby and all the things.”
He added, “We went to Maui to look at places and get a fresh start, and then we fell out again…If I knew what I know now, I would’ve tried to do things differently to make it work.”
Dorsey and Rivera, best known for her role as Santana Lopez on Glee, were married from 2014 to 2018. They welcomed their only child together, son Josey, in September 2015. Two years after Dorsey and Rivera divorced, she died by drowning in July 2020 at the age of 33.
Photo by Axelle/Bauer-Griffin/FilmMagic Glee star Naya Rivera’s ex-husband, Ryan Dorsey, is opening up about raising their son alone nearly five years after Rivera’s death. Rivera died in July 2020 while on a boat with her son, Josey, who was then 4. According to reports, Rivera and Josey, now 9, had rented the boat and were […]
“I wish it would’ve worked out,” Dorsey told People. “I wish we could have worked everything out, had a few kids, lived happily ever after. But that’s not the way life works for everybody.”
Since Rivera’s passing, Dorsey has stayed focused on raising Josey as a single father.
“I’m trying to be the best parent that I can be and raise a good little man,” he told the outlet. “He gives me a reason to keep going with my life.”
Ryan Dorsey and Josey Dorsey Courtesy of Ryan Dorsey/Instagram
Dorsey, who recently moved his family out of Los Angeles back to his native West Virginia, had stopped dating in the years following Rivera’s death.
“I haven’t had any girlfriends really,” he explained to People. “Obviously, [raising Josey is] a full-time job and career is a full-time job, and then you got to do things for yourself, so there’s not much time to go out and try to meet someone.”
Ultimately, the Tracker actor realized he didn’t want to raise Josey, now 9, “by myself” and started to put himself back out there.
Ryan Dorsey has started dating again five years after the tragic death of his ex-wife, Naya Rivera. “He’s been telling me for years that he wants a brother and a stepmom,” Dorsey, 41, told People of son Josey, 9, in an interview published Friday, February 14. “I’m like, ‘Well, I got to get a girlfriend […]
“The hard part about being a single parent is you don’t have that coparent situation to help you make decisions, like what school he’s going to go to, which sports to play,” Dorsey said. “Grandma is his mom’s mom and Grammy is my mom, and Grandma and Grammy have their input, but ultimately everything is up to me now.”
According to People, Dorsey’s new love interest — who has not been publicly identified — also lives on the East Coast.
“It’s someone that keeps me ambitious and inspired and off the [dating] apps,” Dorsey teased. “It’s been a long time since I met somebody that I’m like, ‘Let me try to give this a real shot.’ So, we’ll see what happens. I’m taking it one day at a time.”
Dorsey also joked that Josey has been saying for years that “he wants a brother and a stepmom.”
