Big Sean has broken his silence on the death of his ex-fiancée, Naya Rivera.
Nearly a week after the Glee actress disappeared at Lake Piru in California, the 33-year-old was found dead after her body was recovered from the lake on Monday (July 14). Hours after the devastating discovery, the Ventura County Medical Examiner’s Office determined Rivera's cause of death to be drowning and the manner of death as an accident.
Late last night (July 18), the Detroit rapper, who had gotten engaged to the singer in 2013, took to Instagram to pay tribute to the beloved superstar with a touching message.
“Rest In Peace Naya, God Bless your Soul! Thank you for blessing us all with your talent and presence,” Sean wrote with a picture of the actress. “You are a hero! Not just because of how you saved your son, also because of the barriers you knocked down for so many people to make them feel confident in themselves and to stand tall and be proud when they couldn’t achieve that on their own. I appreciate and cherish everything that ever happened between us for making me wiser and a better person.”
He concluded: “I’m still grieving and in shock, I can’t believe this is real. I’m praying for you and your family and I know your watching over them and protecting them. Rest In Peace Naya 💙🙏🏾”
As fans know, Sean and Rivera began dating in 2013 and the lyricist popped the question to her just months into their romance before calling things off in April 2014.
As the story goes, Rivera and her 4-year-old son Josey had gone swimming at Lake Piru, where the star went missing for five days before her body was recovered from the water. As previously reported, authorities believe something went awry with the boat, which was unanchored and may have started to stray, prompting Rivera to muster enough strength to save her son by helping him back onto the boat, but not enough energy to save herself.
Photo: Getty Images