Celebrity5 min(s) read
An update has been shared on Josey, the son of the late Glee star Naya Rivera, six years after her tragic death.
As previously reported, Rivera died at the age of 33 in July 2020, after renting a boat on Lake Piru with her then-four-year-old son.
She was reported as a missing person after failing to return the boat on time, after which Josey was found asleep alone on board.
He told investigators that he and his mom had been swimming before she told him to get back on the boat, helping him on board, before she vanished under the water as he searched for a rope to help her.
Tragically, Rivera's body was found five days later after an extensive search, with her death being ruled as accidental drowning.
In the resulting years, Rivera's son - who she shared with ex Ryan Dorsey, 43, - has remained largely out of the limelight as the family dealt with their grief privately.
Now, it has been revealed that Josey has been case in his first movie role in The Burning Valley, alonside his father.
According to the film's IMDb page, Josey is credited as "boy", while Dorsey will play "Sam Pope" in the upcoming film, written and directed by Evan Coury.
The movie is currently shooting on location in the Pennsylvania Rust Belt, in Arnold, around Brackenridge and across the Allegheny River, with Coury telling TribLive of his feature film debut: "The movie is about a steelworker who loses his job when the mill announces a shutdown. It sets him on a journey as he wanders through his Rust Belt town."
He described it as a "small, poetic film about deindustrialization, with an emotional truth," adding: "My hope is to encapsulate the history of our region through one guy's personal experience."
Prior to making his big-screen debut, Josey previously played one of the Wickersham Brothers in a 2024 theatre production of Seussical Jr.
Last year, Dorsey opened up about how Rivera's death had affected Josey, with the young boy still feeling "guilt" for not being able to save his mom.
He told People: "Something he's said over and over is that he was trying to find a life raft, and there was a rope, but there was a big spider on the rope, and he was too scared to throw it.
"I keep reassuring him, 'Buddy, that rope wasn't going to be long enough.'"
Dorsey said then then-four-year-old remembered it had been a windy day as he and his mother got into the water from their rented boat.
After some time swimming, Rivera noticed the boat was drifting and told Josey to swim back, with the little boy - who was wearing a life jacket - managing to get back onto the boat, watching as his mother slipped below the surface.
Dorsey explained: "He said that the last thing she said was his name, and then she went under, and he didn't see her anymore.
"It just rocks my world that he had to witness her last moments."
Dorsey recalled being in a supermarket buying food for a friend's barbecue when he received a call from Rivera's mom Yolanda's husband to say she was missing, immediately dropping everything to make the 145 mile drive to the lake.
He added: "I collapsed into a pallet of drinks. I feared the worst.
"I drove 100-and-something the whole way with my four-way hazards on, chain-smoking cigarettes - and I don't even smoke, really - and just crying. I just wanted to get to Josey.
"If we'd have lost both Naya and Josey, I don't know how I would continue on with my life. I don't know what I would've done, but I'm sure it wouldn't have been good."
Dorsey revealed that when Rivera was found dead, he couldn't "believe she's gone", finding it "still so surreal every day."
He added: "We made this book of memories for Josey that sits by his bed, and during the holidays he was crying looking at it.
"You can only give him a hug and tell him, 'I know, life is not fair. Bad things happen, and there's no reason for it, and you just have to do your best to be a good person.'
"It's hard trying to explain things that you can't really make sense of no matter what age you are. I'm not a big believer in everything happens for a reason because I can't ever think of a reason why he doesn't have his mom...
"He wakes up happy, all energy. I'm trying to be the best parent that I can be and raise a good little man. He gives me a reason to keep going with my life."
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