Amber Riley paid tribute to her late Glee costar Naya Rivera on Monday with a video of her singing a duet with her son Josey.
The actress, who died Wednesday in what police have called an accidental drowning, sang Skidamarink with her four-year-old son in the heartbreaking video.
The post was shared after Ventura County authorities speculated that Naya may have drowned in the process of helping Josey back onto their rented boat in Lake Piru.
Touching: Amber Riley, 34, paid tribute to her late Glee costar Naya Rivera on Monday with a sweet video of her singing a duet with her son Josey, four. The 33-year-old actress’ body was recovered Friday after she drowned while boating with her son
Naya was dressed in a black sweater and wore black glasses in the video, which she appeared to have shot while lying in bed with Josey.
He started the clip by cutely mispronouncing the gibberish title before his mother joined in at ‘I love you’ while beaming at the camera.
‘I love you in the morning/And in the afternoon,’ she sang, taking the lead and letting her sweet tone resound.
Once they reached the end of the video, Naya said, ‘Kisses?’ and Josey gave her a cute little peck.
Intimate setting: Naya was dressed in a black sweater and wore black glasses in the video, which she appeared to have shot while lying in bed with Josey
Close enough: He started the clip by cutely mispronouncing the gibberish title before his mother joined in at ‘I love you’ while beaming at the camera
Tears: Once they reached the end of the video, Naya said, ‘Kisses?’ and Josey gave her a cute little peck
‘My favorite duet partner. I love you. I miss you,’ Amber began her caption.
‘I don’t have words right now, just lots of feelings. Rest In Peace Angel, and know that your family will never have to worry about anything,’ she wrote.
On Sunday, Amber, 34, took to Twitter to tell her fans to ‘show some respect’ and urged them to pray for her safe return, though police already believed she was dead at the point.
‘No one owes anyone online a performance of grief. This is very real and devastating. Focus on Naya and her family. Not us,’ she added. ‘We don’t matter right now.’
Gone too soon: ‘My favorite duet partner. I love you. I miss you,’ Amber wrote. ‘I don’t have words right now, just lots of feelings’; pictured together in 2014
Focusing on her: On Sunday, Amber took to Twitter to tell her fans to ‘show some respect’ and urged them to pray for her safe return, though police already believed she was dead at the point
Amber appeared on Glee from the start as Mercedes Jones, a foe-turned-friend to Naya’s cheerleader Santa Lopez.
After their characters solidified their friendship, Mercedes helped send off Santana by singing a moving version of Etta James’ At Last during Santana’s wedding to Brittany in the last season, which wrapped up in 2015.
Naya was reported missing on Wednesday, after she rented a boat in Lake Piru, near California’s Santa Clarita, with her son Josey.
Her son was discovered sleeping on the now-abandoned boat while wearing a life jacket , though his mother was nowhere in sight.
Missing: Naya was reported missing on Wednesday after her son was found alone and sleeping in a boat she rented earlier that day; shown in 2010
An adult-sized life jacket was also found on the boat, and statements from Josey to police that Naya had disappeared under the water led them to conclude that she had drowned.
On Monday, Ventura County Sheriff Bill Ayub announced that her body had been found floating in the lake by divers.
He speculated, based on the conditions and Josey’s statements, that she had helped the boy to get back on the boat but had run out of energy to save herself in the current.
‘It would be speculation to say at this point. There are a lot of currents on the lake that appear particularly in the afternoon,’ he explained.
‘We believe it was mid-afternoon when she disappeared, the idea perhaps being that the boat started drifting, it was unanchored, and that she mustered enough energy to get her son back onto the boat, but not enough to save herself.’
Tragic: Naya’s body was found floating in the lake on Monday. Investigators believe she may have helped her son into the boat but gotten too tired from currents to save herself; still from Glee