Naya Rivera's ex Ryan Dorsey has moved her sister in because she's the "closest thing my son has to a mum".
They have been mourning the death of Glee actress Naya, who died of accidental drowning after she went missing from a boat on Lake Piru in California.
The American actor, 37, moved her sister Nickayla, 26, into his home when his son Josey, five, begged him to let her come live with them forever.
Scandal may swirl around the couple but Ryan shut down any whispers when he revealed he wouldn't deny his son's request.
In an impassioned video, he said: "Josey 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. You're going to need all the help you can get as a single parent trying to build your career and navigate this disaster with your child.
"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?"
In the moving clip, the dad fought back the tears while he opened up about living in a waking nightmare.
He said: "You know he's so smart and you know he witnessed a nightmare right before his eyes. Then when you're with him every day during this, with his grandpas, and his grandmas, and his aunts and his uncles, and his whole family, and all you have is each other to lean on and to cry with, and you go through this nightmare.
"It's sad. The reality hits you and the grieving can start, but the sadness gets heavier because you know you're going to have to have conversation one on one with a little boy and tell him about our new reality."
Ryan thanked his ex's sister Nickayla for putting her life on hold to help support his little family following the heartache of losing Naya.
As a single dad going through the tragedy, he admitted he didn't want to always be "alone" with his grieving thoughts.
"To have a young woman who is his blood, his Titi, who is willing to put her life on hold and sacrifice things, uproot her situation for the betterment of your child," he added.
"So when you put your child to bed you don't always have to be alone with your thoughts and you don't have to be sad any day or night wondering when does it get better. At least you have someone there with you to talk to or just sit in silence and be sad with. You don't have to deal with being completely alone."
Naya and Ryan's love story had been something of a whirlwind as they tied the knot three months after she split from Big Sean in 2014.
They had heaps of history together, having previously dated in 2010, but the actress had ended their romance to focus on her acting career.
Their relationship broke down in 2017 and their divorce was finalised the following year.
Ryan closed down any rumours he was now in a relationship with her sister following her death.
He said: "S**t man, I wish I was worried about a relationship right now. Not thinking about this and living with this every day."