The 'Glee' actress talked to her father on a video call before her tragic death and he warned her not to go for a dip in the water due to her boat's lack of an anchor.
- Jun 10, 2021
AceShowbiz - Naya Rivera appeared to ignore her father's advice not to go swimming in California's Lake Piru shortly before her death, after he raised concerns about the boat's lack of an anchor.
The "Glee" star drowned during an outing with her son Josey last July (20) when she had taken him out on a boat and decided to go for a dip in the water.
Her boy, now five, was found alive inside the rented vessel while Rivera's body was located in the lake after a five-day search.
Now her dad, an avid boater, has opened up about their final FaceTime video call, revealing he had warned the tragic actress about the potential dangers in the hours before her disappearance.
"She would always bounce stuff off me. And she wanted to go swimming with Josey out in the middle of the lake," George Rivera tells People magazine, admitting he was alarmed when his daughter explained the boat didn't have an anchor.
"I could see the wind was blowing and my stomach was just cringing," he recalls. "I kept telling her, 'Don't get out of the boat! Don't get out of the boat! It will drift away when you're in the water.' It was just heartbreaking."
"I had this bad feeling that was just killing me."
Now, almost a year on from the tragedy, George doubts he will ever find "closure" from the heartbreaking loss.
He shares, "It's still pretty much a big blur of pain almost a year later. Things are slowly coming a little more into focus, but I don't know if I'll ever find closure from this. I miss her every day."
Naya shared Josey with her ex-husband, actor Ryan Dorsey.
