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Ryan Lochte isn’t down for his estranged wife’s “pity party.” Ouch!
Of course, the Olympic swimming legend has been in the news recently amid his contentious divorce from wife and mother of his three children Kayla Rae Reid. Most recently, that tension got turned up a BIG notch when the 40-year-old surprisingly went Instagram official with his new girlfriend, 37-year-old Molly Gillihan.
For a while, Kayla has been making all kinds of cryptic comments about how Ryan was supposedly doing dirty deeds outside of their marriage. Anonymous insiders have been echoing those statements with cheating allegations of their own, too. But now??? The dad of three is calling BS on it! …At least when it comes to Molly, that is.
Related: Ryan And Kayla Were Facing SEVERE Financial Trouble When She Filed For Divorce!
In an interview with DailyMail.com on Monday, the sports star was adamant Molly did NOT break up his marriage. He started by slamming Kayla for allegedly blocking him on socials (!) and then complaining online:
“Kayla has blocked me on social media. She’s the one that wanted this divorce in the first place and now she’s playing this pity party.”
Yikes!!!
Specifically, he pushed back on assumptions that Molly was a homewrecker. He laid out the timeline very specifically, claiming his new GF didn’t do anything wrong and he only pursued her after splitting from Kayla:
“I want people to understand that Molly didn’t take me away from my ex-wife. She didn’t take me away from my kids. We got a divorce and I left. I moved down the street because I wanted to be in my kids’ lives and I will always be in my kids’ lives. There was no infidelity with Molly, like nothing. Molly didn’t do anything wrong. She didn’t pursue me, I pursued her. It was after I got served with the divorce papers. I was out of the house and living by myself. It was all after the fact.”
Ryan also had plenty of praise for Molly, whose children go to the same Florida school as two of his. He gushed:
“Molly is true to herself. She has a big heart. She’s a kindergarten teacher so she has the patience of a freaking saint. It’s awesome being with her. We’re just living our best lives and having fun.”
And his family has apparently met Molly already, too! Ryan said:
“My family loves Molly. We have nothing to hide — why hide happiness? I’m just in a new projection and a new chapter of my life that is going to be amazing and I’m excited for it.”
Wow!
He’s not the only one who was gushing, either! Molly also spoke to DM, saying:
“I’m extremely happy with Ryan. He pursued me some time after Kayla served him with divorce papers and he was living on his own.”
“Some time.” Kayla filed for divorce in late March, according to docs obtained by People. At some point in that roughly three-and-a-half month span, Ryan pursued dating someone new, and they got serious enough to spend time with each other’s family and go IG official? He isn’t just fast in the water, we guess!
Speaking of swimming, Molly also claims she did “not know much” about Ryan’s Olympic history before meeting him — but was instead won over by how great of a dad he is:
“Seeing how great of a dad he was is what attracted me to him. I do not know much about his history in swimming but when I saw how he was with his kiddos I decided to give him a chance.”
She didn’t know his Olympic history?! Seriously?? Ryan was, like, the most famous athlete on the entire freakin’ planet for a minute there!
Anyways, Molly had been married to a doctor, FYI, but they split up a while back. Their divorce was finalized last year, DM reports.
Related: Denise Richards Is Getting A Divorce — Her Husband JUST Filed & It’s Gonna Get Messy!
Oh, and regarding timelines, Ryan also tried to make clear that he and Kayla haven’t been a thing for a while. He told the outlet that he and Kayla had been on the rocks “for a long time” before actually going through with their divorce. So the transition away from each other was easier when it actually happened, he said:
“What people don’t really realize is that me and my ex haven’t really been together for a very long time, basically, since my littlest girl was born, which was around two years ago. We had been having complications for a long time so it was an easy transition for us to divorce and live our own lives.”
He also tried to end on a high note regarding his hope that the split-up pair can still co-parent the couple’s three kids — Caiden, 8, Liv, 6, and Georgia, 2 — in a healthy way:
“Kayla is the mother of my children. I’ll always love her but I’m not in love with her. I wish her the best and I hope she can wish the best for me too. One thing I will not do is leave my kids and I’ll always be part of their lives.”
Well then.
Do U buy Ryan’s timeline claims here, Perezcious readers??
Share your thoughts and opinions (below)…
[Image via Ryan Lochte/Instagram/Kayla Rae Reid/Instagram/Molly Gillihan/Threads/Threads]
