37-year-old actor Ryan Dorsey has addressed what he called "absurd" rumors that he and Naya Rivera's younger sister Nickayla are romantically involved.
Said rumors began after reports that Nickayla moved in with Dorsey to help him take care of his and Naya's 5-year-old son Josey began to surface. In an emotional video response posted to Instagram on Tuesday night, Dorsey slammed people making assumptions about his relationship with the late actress' sister.
Dorsey also said that it was his son Josey that asked for his aunt to stay with them. "Then he asked me if TiTi 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," Dorsey recalled his son saying. "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."
A source told ET that Nickayla has always been involved in Josey's life and that she stepped up in a major way after her sister's drowning, saying that although the actor is "the primary caregiver" to his son he's been "relying very heavily on Nickayla." The source continued, "They simply share the same goal—to give Josey the best childhood possible and to raise him the best they can without Naya... They’ve also found comfort in one another because they understand what each other is dealing with and they know how exhausting it can be to be grieving in the public eye while trying to keep it together for Josey."
Nickayla also seemingly addressed the rumors earlier in the day.
"In the darkest time of my life, the only thing that is important is my friends & family. Showing up for my nephew even though I can't show up for myself," Nickayla wrote on her Instagram Story. "Im not concerned with the ways things look because no one can see each agonizing moment we all endure."
Naya Rivera died on July 8, 2020 in Lake Piru, CA after accidentally drowning. She was 33.
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