Ryan Dorsey has taken to Instagram to address speculations about his relationship with Naya Rivera's sister Nickayla.
In an emotional video, the single father confirmed that Nickayla had moved in with him and his son Josey to help him raise the five-year-old.
Slamming the "false narrative" that has been painted about him and the 26-year-old model, he said that Nickayla had moved in because she's the "closest thing my son has to a mum".
In the video, Ryan says: "Josey asks me if Titi can live with us. 'I want Titi to live with us forever,' because she's now the closest thing he has to a mom. 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."
"It's a temporary situation. After all that he's had to go through how could you deny him that? Because of what? What some strangers might think or say, or spew some hatred based on some ill-advised, ill-logical, misinformed tabloid?"
[[imagecaption|| Credit: PA]]
He continued:
"You know he's so smart and you know he witnessed a nightmare right before his eyes. Then when you're with him every day during this, with his grandpas, and his grandmas, and his aunts and his uncles, and his whole family, and all you have is each other to lean on and to cry with, and you go through this nightmare.
"It's sad. The reality hits you and the grieving can start, but the sadness gets heavier because you know you're going to have to have conversation one on one with a little boy and tell him about our new reality."
[[imagecaption|| Credit: PA]]
"To have a young woman who is his blood, his Titi, who is willing to put her life on hold and sacrifice things, uproot her situation for the betterment of your child," he added.
"So when you put your child to bed you don't always have to be alone with your thoughts and you don't have to be sad any day or night wondering when does it get better. At least you have someone there with you to talk to or just sit in silence and be sad with. You don't have to deal with being completely alone."
Naya Rivera had gone missing at Lake Piru earlier this year in July:
Naya, best known for her role in musical comedy Glee, died of accidental drowning while swimming in Lake Piru in California. Her son Josey was found in a pontoon boat nearby after being hoisted back in by Naya. Police speculated that she had "mustered enough energy" to rescue her son "but not enough to save herself".
