Ryan Dorsey is getting candid about having difficult conversations with his son about his late ex-wife Naya Rivera.
The Big Sky actor, 39, said in an interview with E! News that his son Josey, 7, has had to "navigate" conversations in his daily life about what happened with his mom in the three years following her death at the age of 33 by drowning. She had been on a boating trip with Josey, who was 4 years old at the time, at Lake Piru, Calif. in July 2020.
"A lot of the kids find out what his dad does for work. They'll also find out about his mom, which is always something that's tough to navigate," Dorsey told the outlet.
"It's always a reminder of the obvious. Something that's never going to change is what happened and him having to deal with it daily. As he crosses these milestones as a kid growing up, kids talk about their moms at school and dealing with his situation is very unique," he added.
He told Entertainment Tonight in a separate interview that things change day to day, but it especially gets hard when he and his son discuss what happened the day his mom died and he needs to step in to comfort Josey.
"Some days are harder than the others," he noted. "It's hard for me when Josey will say certain things and if he misses his mom ... or he'll bring up certain moments that obviously he'll never forget from the worst day of his life."
"And there's not much for me to say except, 'I know buddy, and I love you,' and I just give him a hug. Just some human dad-to-son contact, and rub his head and squeeze him, because it's all I can do because I don't really have any answers," Dorsey continued, adding that he's "not one of those 'Everything happens for a reason' type of people."
The Pitch actor said that his son isn't the only one that has to come to terms with Rivera's death on a daily basis.
"To be honest, it's still extremely hard for me," he told E! News. "I can't watch videos. Pictures are still hard to look at. We have pictures in the house here. It's like that thing you try to avoid. Every now and then I'll make eye contact with these pictures, whether it's the three of us or just her and him. It's just really hard to accept."
However, he shared there are still some positive things their family looks to — including the fact that Josey is taking to becoming a stand-up comedian. He revealed to ET that Josey "did a little stand-up act" at his first talent show, and wants to start a YouTube channel.
While Josey hasn't seen much of Dorsey's own work, he said he's expressed an interest in taking a look at his some of his mom's shows.
"He's never going to forget his Mom," Dorsey told E! News.
"He's interested in watching things and looking at her work one day. That stuff will speak for itself and he'll really get to appreciate the impact she had on people and how talented she was and who his Mom was on the outside, not just in his home life."
