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Ryan Lochte and Molly Gillihan.Credit :
Molly Gillihan/Instagram
Ryan Lochte and Molly Gillihan are engaged!
The 12-time Olympic medalist proposed at Prime and Pearl, the restaurant where they had their first date in Gainesville, Fla., he confirmed to . TMZ first reported the news.
“It’s true,” Lochte tells PEOPLE, adding that he is “moving on with my life to bigger and better things, especially marrying Molly.”
He was planning to propose at Gillihan’s family farm, but once she found out, he changed it to Prime and Pearl. “I had rose petals from the entrance leading to our table,” he says. The table was also covered in roses, and the letter for Molly read, “Will you marry me?”
Lochte, 41, explained that as she read the note, he got down on one knee. “She immediately started crying and said, ‘What took you so long?’ ” before saying yes, he says.
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The couple made their relationship Instagram official in July 2025. Lochte then told PEOPLE that he and Gillihan moved in together in January 2026, adding that it was “the right next step.”
“She’s my best friend, our kids have formed an incredible bond, and it became clear that being together under one roof was the right next step for all of us,” he continued. “We needed a bigger home to support our blended family, and we’re focused on creating a loving, stable environment for all of our children.”
The former Olympic swimmer shares son Caiden, 8, daughter Liv, 6, and daughter Georgia, 2, with estranged wife Kayla Reid Lochte. Kayla, 34, filed for divorce after seven years of marriage in March 2025. She shared the news in a lengthy Instagram message in June 2025.
Gillihan also has three kids: two daughters, Layla and Maggie, and a son, Oliver.
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The pair met at their kids’ school in Gainesville, Fla., he told the Daily Mail. “There was no infidelity with Molly, like nothing. Molly didn’t do anything wrong,” Lochte said of the beginning of their relationship. “She didn’t pursue me, I pursued her.”
“It was after I got served with the divorce papers,” he told the Daily Mail in July 2025. “It was all after the fact.”
