Still radio silent. Ryan Lochte opened up about the aftermath of revealing his years-long estrangement from his mother, Ileana Lochte.
“No, no, no,” the 36-year-old Olympian — who has partnered with Piñata — exclusively told Us Weekly on Thursday, October 15, when asked if Ileana has reached out since his interview. “I don’t see it changing just because I know how she is.”
However, Ryan has made peace with the situation. “But it’s OK. I’m happy,” he noted. “My job is to protect my family and that’s what I’m doing, and I couldn’t be happier right now the way my life is going.”
The competitive swimmer detailed his strained relationship with his mother in September. He explained during an episode of In Depth With Graham Bensinger that he and his siblings took their mom’s side when she divorced their father, Steven Lochte, in 2011, but they changed their minds more recently.
“We were all against [our dad] just because of everything I was getting feeded [sic] — like, all of this information that I didn’t know if it was true or not,” Ryan said last month. “It was hard for him to tell us the truth just because he cared so much about us. And if he told us the truth on everything, why they got divorced and all this, then we would never speak to him again. But matter of fact, when I found out the truth from him, I almost got up and punched him just because I was pissed. I was angry.”
The athlete and his father are now “closer than [they’ve] ever been,” while Ryan calls stepmother Natalie “Mom.”
On the other hand, the New York native cut off communication with his biological mother after her reaction to his and now-wife Kayla Rae Reid’s pregnancy news. (The couple, who tied the knot in January 2018, share son Caiden, 3, and daughter Liv, 15 months.)
“When I told her that she was going to be a grandma and I’m having a kid, she said some very, very hurtful things that kind of ended our relationship,” he claimed. “I don’t know if I really want to put this on [TV]. She just said some things to me and my wife. I mean, I can get over it, but I just want an apology from her. And she said that she’ll never apologize, she has nothing to say sorry for.”
Ryan is now focused on the future, including his and pal Jonathan Bennett’s partnership with Piñata, the world’s first rent rewards platform. Every time users pay their rent on time, they get rewards.
“Being an Olympian, I was always traveling, going to different places, always on the road, and renting was the best thing that fit my lifestyle at the time. And then when I found out about Piñata and the rewards that you can get while paying rent, my mind was blown,” Ryan told Us on Thursday. “I was like, ‘What? Are you serious?’ Like, I can actually get rewards for paying rent. This is unheard of. So I immediately teamed up with them. And then once I found out more about what Piñata does with giving back and everything, I was just like, ‘This is a perfect fit for me. I’ve been renting since college. This is perfect and I need to be a part of this.’”
With reporting by Christina Garibaldi
