Naya Rivera’s Ex Marks Son’s First Mother’s Day Without Her

Sunday (May 9) marked the first Mother’s Day, the family of the late Glee actress Naya Rivera, spent without her since her accidental drowning last July. 

Rivera’s ex-husband, Ryan Dorsey, honored the star and mother by sharing a throwback photo of her eating dessert with their son Josey, 5. The couple was married from 2014 to 2018. 

“We can’t say the word happy but we’ll say thank you for being a mother & giving me this sweet amazing boy,” Dorsey captioned his Instagram post. “#mothersday.”

RELATED: Naya Rivera Laid To Rest Two Weeks After Drowning

We previously reported that Rivera was first reported missing on July 8 after she disappeared during a boating trip at Ventura County’s Lake Piru when she rented a pontoon boat with her son Josey Dorsey. 

Staff went out to Lake Piru to search for the boat after it was overdue from its three-hour rental. Finding it at the north side of the lake, a staff member found Josey wearing a life jacket sleeping alone on board with Rivera nowhere to be found. 

An adult life jacket reportedly that was provided to Rivera was still on the boat. 

Josey later told investigators that he and his mother had been swimming in the lake and that he got back on the pontoon boat, but she did not. 

Rivera’s body was recovered in Lake Piru on July 13, nearly a week after she was reported missing. 

According to her official death certificate obtained by People, she was buried at Forest Lawn Memorial Park in Los Angeles on July 24.