Naya Rivera's Ex Ryan Dorsey on Rumors He Was Romantically Involved with Her Sister After Death

While speaking with PEOPLE, which marked his first major interview since Naya's death, the actor opened up about why Nickayla moved in with him and his son Josey in Los Angeles in the wake of Rivera's drowning in July 2020.

"She was such a big help. I wanted to keep [Josey's] life somewhat normal, and I knew I was going to be out of town working," said Dorsey, who shared Josey, now 9, with Rivera. "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 added. "It was very surreal sometimes because the way she would say things to Josey would sound like his mom."

Dorsey, 41, went on to address the rumors that he and Nickayla, 30, became romantic following Rivera's death. The pair sparked romance rumors after they were seen in public together two months later. At the time, per PEOPLE, the pair were shopping for Josey's 5th birthday celebrations.

"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 told PEOPLE. "That was the only time I've ever addressed anything on social media because it was just so insane."

At the time, Dorsey -- who was married to Rivera from 2014 to 2018 -- shared an emotional video on his Instagram Stories, in which he slammed the "false narrative" surrounding him and Nickayla.

He slammed people "who think it's okay to spew hatred ... especially when they make statements about a family who are dealing with a tragedy that I hope is so unimaginable that you or anyone that is close to you ever has to go through."

During his interview with PEOPLE, Dorsey said people even claimed online that Nickayla "had something to do with" Rivera's then-reported disappearance.

"People were tagging the FBI," he said. "Just f--king insane."

He told the outlet that Nickayla lived with them in Los Angeles for about a year. Dorsey said he moved him and Josey from the city to West Virginia, where he's from, two years ago, and opened up about his decision to leave Los Angeles.

"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 said. "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 shared that he still regularly travels to Los Angeles for work and to see Rivera's family.

"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 told PEOPLE. "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."