Molly Gillihan, the kindergarten teacher engaged to Olympic medal-winning swimmer Ryan Lochte, is disputing claims that she dated him while his marriage to Kayla Rae Reid was still active. A homewrecker accusation, meaning the allegation that someone deliberately broke up an existing marriage, has been directed at her since Reid spoke to People magazine. Gillihan is calling that version false.
Reid, a former Playboy model and Lochte's former wife, told People that someone she had considered a friend was privately messaging and dating Lochte while the marriage was still intact. Gillihan disputes every part of that. She told TMZ she and Lochte did not start dating until Reid had already filed for divorce, which happened last spring.
How they first connected matters to Gillihan's defense. Lochte's divorce attorney was also the attorney Gillihan's ex-husband had used, and that overlap led to an introduction. Gillihan told TMZ she was single at the time and went out with Lochte for drinks without expecting much to come of it. She said she "accidentally came away from the date really liking him." That, by her account, was not the plan going in.
Gillihan puts the divorce filing at the center of her argument. If Reid submitted that paperwork before they started dating, the sequence does not support the claim that Gillihan pursued a married man. She told TMZ: "I did not break up your marriage. I'm not a homewrecker. Your home was broken. When I met Ryan, he was not living in the home."
One detail complicates the picture. Lochte proposed to Gillihan before his divorce from Reid was legally complete, meaning the engagement was announced while court proceedings were still open. That timing is part of why both women have since given separate interviews laying out their accounts. Lochte has not spoken publicly about the dispute. He and Gillihan have since relocated from Gainesville to Missouri, where he is now coaching college swimmers.