Taj Mowry has taken to social media to profess his ongoing love for ex-girlfriend, Naya Rivera – following her disappearance in what’s been deemed a ‘recreational accident.’
The younger brother of Sister Sister twins, Tia and Tamera Mowry, took to Instagram on Friday evening to say his devastation got harder and harder each day but he was still holding onto hope that she would be found.
The 34-year-old confessed that Naya was his first love, in all respects, and he always hoped that one day they’d get back together.
Devastated: Taj Mowry has taken to social media to profess his ongoing love for ex-girlfriend, Naya Rivera – following her disappearance in what’s been deemed a ‘recreational accident’
‘My sweet Naya – to say that I am devastated would be an understatement. This is a nightmare. Everyday gets harder. However, I am holding onto hope that you will be found,’ he began the lengthy post.
‘We grew up together. We became adults together. We experienced so many firsts together. You were my first experience with everything; love, intimacy, heartbreak. We broke each others hearts and then mended them back together…more than once.’
Tahj went on to say that no other woman in his life has ever measured up to Naya.
First love: Naya and Tahj starred in Smart Guy together and dated when they were teens between 2000 to 2004
‘I will never not think of you. No woman has ever measured up what you gave me or how you made me feel. I’ve never liked to admit it but I have never stopped loving you,’ he opened up.
‘A part of me always wished for the day where God would bring us back together to be what we dreamt we could have been.’
He continued: ‘I pray deeply for the Rivera family and that God blankets them with strength, peace, and love right now.’
‘Mychal and Nickayla – you will always be like younger siblings to me and I love you dearly. I watched you two grow up into beautiful adults. George and Yolanda – whatever you need I am here for you. We are forever family and I love you.’
Prayers: Tahj Mowry took to Instagram on Friday evening to say his devastation got harder and harder each day but he was still holding onto hope that she would be found
Tahj added: ‘I ask everyone reading this to please lift up, along with the entire Rivera family, Ryan and Josey in prayer and to respect what they are going through during this time. I pray that God showers the entire family with strength and peace that only He can give.’
‘I still have faith. I still have hope. Let’s please all pray that she is found and brought home safely. ‘
Tahj concluded by sending a special message to his one true love.
‘Naya, I miss you deeply. I wish I got the chance to tell you that once more but I’m believing I will get that chance. I know deep down you’ve always known how I felt.’
‘I look forward to the day where I can see your beautiful face once more and tell you everything I’ve wanted to say that I didn’t get the chance to say. I love you forever. I always have and I always will. ♥️.’
Naya had previously confirmed in her memoir, Sorry Not Sorry, that Tahj was her first boyfriend.
The pair dated for four years between 2000 to 2004 when they were teenagers.
Mystery: Meanwhile law enforcement sources ruled out suicide as a factor and believe the disappearance on the lake was accidental, the boat she rented on Wednesday is pictured
Tahj’s sweet message comes after the Glee star’s son, Josey, four, was found alone on a boat on Wednesday evening.
Naya was nowhere to be found and is now presumed dead.
Law enforcement sources have ruled out suicide as a factor and believe the disappearance on the lake was accidental.
Sgt. Kevin Donoghue told People on Friday: ‘We interviewed her son and there was nothing that we learned from her son that would have suggested that this was suicide. Everything that we’ve learned so far leads to this being some sort of water recreational accident.’
‘To say definitively what actually happened, we really can’t say. We just don’t know, it’s a mystery,’ Donoghue added. ‘We’re still investigating, we’re still searching. We’re trying to uncover clues as we go. But so far, we really don’t have a lot of information to make any guesses as to what could have happened.
Naya and her son Josey: The pair were on Lake Piru in California Wednesday afternoon when Rivera vanished and is feared to have drowned. She shared the right-hand image just a day before her disappearance, with the caption: ‘Just the two of us’
He also said that it’s unclear if Josey climbed back into the boat himself or if Naya helped him back in. He said, ‘I know she was in the water. I don’t know if she helped him back on the boat. That I don’t know.’
The conditions in Lake Piru are making it difficult for the rescue crew to find Naya, but they used a scanning sonar on Friday to ‘paint pictures of the lake bed floor.’
Police said on Thursday that the search and rescue mission for Rivera is now being considered a recovery operation, a day after she vanished from the California lake where she’d been boating with her son.
Rivera vanished on Wednesday while on Lake Piru with her son Josey, who told police that she’d ‘jumped’ into the water to go swimming and never came back. He was found asleep on their drifting boat.
This comes after search and rescue teams searched the lake on Thursday and local sheriffs gave grim details about the lake which Rivera was familiar with and had been visiting for years.
Ventura County Deputy Sheriff Chris Dyer said on Thursday that Lake Piru was a ‘sanctuary’ for Naya, she was familiar with the lake and has been going there for years.
Naya Rivera and Ryan Dorsey: The couple had an on-off relationship including a four-year marriage from 2014 and 2018 which led to the birth of a son, Josey Hollis Dorsey
Rivera welcomed her son, Josey Hollis, with then-husband Ryan Dorsey in 2015. She called her young son ‘my greatest success, and I will never do any better than him’ in her 2016 memoir ‘Sorry Not Sorry.’
Rivera and Hollis divorced in 2018, after Rivera had earlier applied to end the marriage in 2016 but the couple had initially reconciled.
On Thanksgiving weekend 2017, Rivera was arrested in West Virginia on suspicion of domestic battery against Dorsey. The Kanawha County Sheriff’s Office said Dorsey later asked that Rivera not be prosecuted.
Dorsey, also an actor, has appeared on shows including Ray Donovan and Justified.
Former Glee co-star Matthew Morrison defended Rivera at the time of her arrest, saying she was a ‘great mom’.
Divers search Lake Piru for any sign of Naya Rivera on Thursday morning. The Glee actress vanished after going for a swim from a pontoon boat she had rented with her son
Initially, police had hoped to find the actress alive and were searching the expansive shoreline as well as in the water. Now though, they say the mission is a recovery operation.
‘There’s no evidence of foul play at this point. This may well be a case of drowning,’ sheriff’s Capt. Eric Buschow said.
He said it was an employee who works at the boat shack who found the boat and the child in the north part of the lake.
‘My indication is that the child was found sleeping on the boat,’ he said at a press conference near the lake Thursday.
‘I’ve been told Naya Rivera has been coming here for years and she is familiar with the lake. This might be a little sanctuary for her, especially on a Wednesday – no one’s here on a Wednesday so it’s a good day to come. She rented the boat.’
Rivera was arrested on a domestic battery charge (pictured left) on Thanksgiving weekend in 2017 after being accused of striking Dorsey (pictured together right), who eventually asked for the prosecution not to go ahead
Deputy Sheriff Dyer added: ‘We’re not presuming her dead and right now it’s still a search and rescue operation, we’re searching not only the water but the shoreline. We hope for the best and prepare for the worst.’
The senior officer said at this point all signs point to this being a horrible accident.
‘There was no collision or signs of struggle,’ he said. ‘We are using our helicopters, we are using our dive teams, we are using sonar equipment and our unmanned aerial drone team.
‘It’s extremely difficult to search this lake, it goes from depths of 40ft to 5ft.
‘Visibility in the daytime is 8 to 10 inches. At nighttime it’s zero. Everywhere you see a buoy on the lake is a low part.
‘There’s full-grown trees and debris under the lake. It’s been a couple years since someone drowned here in Lake Piru, that an accident’s happened in the lake, but it has happened before,’ he said.