Ryan Dorsey has spoken out about reports he is living with his ex-wife Naya Rivera's sister following the actress' tragic death, explaining Nickayla Rivera is "now the closest thing" five-year-old Josey has "to a mom".
Glee star Naya tragically drowned during a boating trip with Josey in July, and it was reported earlier this week that Ryan was living with her sister Nickayla and his son in Los Angeles.
While Nickayla appeared to respond to her new living situation on her own Instagram page, saying that she was determined to "show up" for her nephew after Naya's death, Ryan took to his Instagram to share a video explaining the reasons for the 26-year-old living with them.
Telling his followers that he's been struggling with Josey asking questions about where Naya is, Ryan said he's told him that she's "an angel now and she's with God. She's in heaven".
“And he goes, ‘Well, I want to go there. How do I get there?’" he continued, adding that he, as a parent, couldn't bear to hear his son say that.
"Then he asked me if TiTi (Nickayla) can live with us. ‘I want TiTi to live with us, forever.’ Because she’s now the closest thing that he has to a mom,” he explained. “Because you’re going to need all the help you can get as a single parent, trying to build your career and navigate this disaster with your child. You deal with it every hour of every day for 80-plus days now.”
Her presence is also to help Ryan, as he added: "When you put your child to bed you don't have to be alone with your thoughts. You don't have to be sad every day and night, wondering when does it get better. You have someone there with you to talk to, or just sit in silence and be sad with."
Ryan said he wasn't even going to speak out about the situation, but was forced to do so when he and Nickayla started receiving horrific messages from trolls.
"2020 and this is life. 2020, what a s**tty, f**king year," he concluded.
