Naya Rivera’s Ex Ryan Dorsey Addresses Rumors He Became Romantic with the Glee Star’s Sister After Her Death (Exclusive)  

Ryan Dorsey is setting the record straight on his relationship with his late ex-wife Naya Rivera’s sister Nickayla Rivera.

Following the Glee star’s drowning death in 2020, Nickayla, 30, moved in with the actor, 41, andJosey, the son Ryan shared with Naya, now 9. At the time, they were living in Los Angeles.

“She was such a big help,” Doresey tells PEOPLE of Nickayla in his first sit-down since Rivera’s death. “I wanted to keep [Josey’s] life somewhat normal, and I knew I was going to be out of town working. I had to go to Vancouver for five months and Josey came the last month to stay with me, but during the time I was gone she held it down and kept that consistency.”

“She served as somewhat of a female figure and helped be the other voice of reason,” he continues of her stay, which lasted about a year. “It was very surreal sometimes because the way she would say things to Josey would sound like his mom.”

Josey’s fifth birthday came two months after Rivera drowned while swimming with her son off a rental boat in Lake Piru in Ventura County, Calif. When Dorsey and Nickayla were photographed shopping together for the birthday celebrations, rumors started to spread that their relationship had turned romantic.

“The funny thing is, it did look like we were holding hands, but we grazed fingers on the escalator, and then it was this whole thing,” Dorsey says. “That was the only time I’ve ever addressed anything on social media because it was just so insane.”

What shocked Dorsey even further was seeing people on Twitter saying he and Nickayla “had something to do with” Rivera’s disappearance.

“People were tagging the FBI,” he recalls. “Just f—ing insane.”

Two years ago, Dorsey — who was married to Rivera from 2014 to 2018 — decided to leave L.A. for his home state of West Virginia with Josey.

“When we were living in L.A. for the two years after Naya’s death, I was auditioning in my garage, rent was $6,000 a month, and it’s like, I’m getting nothing for Josey’s future,” he says. “It didn’t make sense to stay because COVID changed our industry to where all my auditions were on tape, and I can audition in a garage anywhere. West Virginia is just a completely different place. There’s not much to do, but it feels safe and there’s no traffic.”

Dorsey still often travels back to L.A. to visit Rivera’s family and for work — he’s currently appearing in the CBS hit Tracker  and filmed a “very cool” Apple TV+ show in the city that he can’t reveal more details about just yet.

“I love her family so much: her dad, her mom, her sister, her brother, we all get along so good and we’re all still close,” he says. “We’re, obviously, even closer now, and we stay at grandma’s. He’s really close to both sides of his family, and we make sure of that.”

Just days ahead of their PEOPLE shoot at Calamigos Guest Ranch in Malibu, Calif., on Feb. 3, Dorsey says he and Josey even made a surprise visit to Rivera’s mom Yolanda’s home for her birthday.

“I didn’t tell grandma that Josey was coming, so we showed up and we got her some flowers and a balloon,” he says. “He rang the doorbell, and she had the best surprise. She was so happy to see him. She said it was the best birthday ever.”