On Wednesday, late actress Naya Rivera would have been 35.

Nickayla Rivera, the 28-year-old sister of Naya's ex-husband Ryan Dorsey and his six-year-old kid Josey, was spotted out ahead of the bittersweet day. Josey was only 4 when he lost his mom.

A year and a half after the horrific drowning death of her sister, Nickayla has opened out about the "dark place" she was in after her sister suddenly passed and she found herself moving in with Dorsey to be a more hands-on aunt.

As she battled to come to terms with the family tragedy, Nickayla Rivera shared her story on her YouTube channel this week. "In July of 2020, my sister Naya passed away. And when that happened, I was in complete shock," she said into the camera. "My whole family was in complete shock. It was like someone pulled the rug from under us and we didn't see it coming," she added.

She then revealed that right before the tragedy happened, she was already in a dark place, that quickly worsened because of her sister's death.

"The dark place that I was in before only progressed when that happened. At that time, I had no thoughts of my future. I had no thoughts of myself really. I was only just experiencing pain."

She then said in time, the pain fueled her to think how she's living her life and who she really is. She also realized that every new day alive is actually a blessing.

On Monday, she accompanied Ryan Dorsey, 38, and his son Josey on a wonderful father-son bonding time.

At their house in Los Angeles, Josey was learning to ride a bike without the aid of training wheels from his adoring father. It was obvious that Ryan was enjoying himself teaching this precarious skill, looking on as Josey biked.

As his kid pedaled down the block, the actor, who was casually attired in a crew neck shirt, sunglasses, and a baseball cap, offered words of encouragement to his youngster. Meanwhile, Nickayla, Naya's sister and fellow model, was seen riding a bike beside Josey in similar low-slung black trousers and a matching white top.

Naya Rivera, Dorsey's ex-wife, tragically perished while boating in 2020 with their son, Josey, who was four at the time.

After Naya's death, she and Dorsey moved in together and have been living together ever since.

A few eyebrows were raised when they decided to live together, but Dorsey rejected allegations that they were having a romantic relationship.

At the end of September 2020, Ryan released an emotional Instagram post in which he reacted angrily to the assumptions made about him.

"it's truly sad that this is the world that we live in where people were raised to think it's OK to spew hatred, in general, 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," he said at the time.

He added that it was Josey himself who wanted his aunt to be with him at all times because he considers her as "the closest thing he has to a mom.

"[JJosey] asks me if Titi can live with us. 'I want Titi to live with us forever,' because she's now the closest thing he has to a mom,"Ryan explained. It did not take him much to agree because he wanted his son to be happy in light of the tragedy, regardless of what people might say.

'It's a temporary situation. After all that he's had to go through how could you deny him that? Because of what? What some strangers might think or say, or spew some hatred based on some ill-advised, ill-logical, misinformed tabloid?'