Naya Rivera’s Father Sadly Recalls ‘Heartbreaking’ FaceTime Call Just Before She Disappeared: I Kept Telling Her ‘Don’t Get Out Of The Boat’

June 10, 2021 by C.J. in TV with 0 Comments

Naya Rivera’s Father Sadly Recalls ‘Heartbreaking’ FaceTime Call Just Before She Disappeared: I Kept Telling Her ‘Don’t Get Out Of The Boat’

As the one-year anniversary of actress Naya Rivera’s passing approaches, her father is recalling their final phone conversation.

As previously reported, the Glee star tragically drowned last July during a boating trip with her son, Josey, now 5. He survived and was found sleeping in the boat alone.

Now, her dad, George Rivera, has revealed that she FaceTimed him just moments before she disappeared.

He told PEOPLE,

“She would always bounce stuff off me. And she wanted to go swimming with Josey out in the middle of the lake.”

He said she told him there wasn’t an anchor for the boat, and he urged her not to jump in the water.

“I could see that the wind was blowing and my stomach was just cringing. 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.'”

He said their call disconnected roughly three minutes later.

“It was just heartbreaking.”

He added that he could do nothing but gaze at the screenshot he took of her during their call. In the picture, she was wearing sunglasses and a baseball cap, all smiles under the boat’s canopy. He explained,

“I had this bad feeling that was just killing me.”

Shortly after, he was notified that Naya Rivera was missing. Sadly, following a five-day search, her body was found in a remote area of the lake. The Ventura County Medical Examiner determined she died after growing tired while trying to make her way back to the boat.

George Rivera continued,

“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.”

Continued prayers for Naya Rivera’s family and loved ones.