Former Playboy model Kayla Reid opened up on serious allegations of substance abuse and infidelity after her divorce with retired U.S. Olympic swimmer Ryan Lochte was finalized last month.
During an interview with People, Reid explained that she gave Lochte an ultimatum — “rehab or divorce” — after she “found the use of substances” around their children, Caiden, 9, Liv, 7, and 3-year-old Georgia.
Reid, who married Lochte in 2018, said the breaking point in their marriage came in 2024 when she allegedly found evidence of his doing cocaine in daughter Liv’s bedroom and saw him using nitrous oxide (also known as whippets) in front of one of their girls in their garage.
Reid said Lochte’s drinking continued despite outpatient rehab.
By mid-January 2025, Reid claimed she sat Lochte down with their therapist and gave him an “ultimatum” to seek inpatient treatment for 30 days, followed by an “all-intensive marital boot camp” that they would both attend.
“He screamed, said he wasn’t going to rehab, he didn’t have a problem,” Reid, 35, recalled. “I called the attorney and filed for divorce.”
Reid also remembered two instances when Lochte allegedly cheated on her — the first being late in her pregnancy with their son Caiden in 2017, when someone sent her photos of Lochte snuggled up with another woman at a friend’s wedding.
The second instance came in 2023, while she was pregnant with Georgia, when she discovered a sultry selfie on Lochte’s phone from a woman at his gym.
Lochte, 42, has “adamantly” denied “ever using drugs in front of or around” their children but acknowledged “I used drugs in my home,” according to People.
Reid, who works as a realtor in Gainesville, filed for divorce from Lochte last March.
In her interview with People, she claimed Lochte tried to push her to sign an NDA and accept a proposed $25,000 in exchange for custody of the kids before they ultimately settled.
Reid currently has primary custody of their three children while Lochte relocated from Gainesville to Missouri with his fiancée, Molly Gillihan, to coach college swimming.
Lochte and Gillihan got engaged in June after one year of dating.
Reid alleged that she and Gillihan used to be friendly acquaintances before she learned of their rendezvous.
“Desperate piece of s–t,” Reid claimed she texted Gillihan last year.
In response to Reid’s claim, Gillihan told People: “We were never friends, we were simply acquaintances who crossed paths occasionally.”
Reid recalled feeling the weight of Lochte’s alleged bad behavior behind closed doors in 2020.
“Our marriage is a ticking time bomb,” she wrote in her journal at the time.
Reid also claimed Lochte’s repeated lies and deception felt like she was in an “alternate universe” where she would question what was real and what wasn’t.
In response to Reid, Lochte told People in a statement: “Over the past several years, I’ve taken responsibility for the mistakes I’ve made and have spoken openly about some of the lowest moments in my life. Looking back, I wasn’t ready to be a husband or the man my family deserved at that point in my life.”
“That’s on me. I’m incredibly grateful for my children, and they are the greatest gift to come from that chapter of my life.”
“I’m not going to engage in a back-and-forth about my divorce or respond to every allegation or characterization.”
Lochte, in response to Reid’s NDA claim, said “any discussion about a confidentiality agreement was never about hiding the truth or protecting my reputation. … It was about protecting my children from exactly this kind of situation. I’ve always believed that my children’s privacy should come before headlines.”
Lochte previously admitted to being unfaithful to Reid and was adamant that his relationship with Gillihan was a non-factor.
Lochte and Reid’s split played out in the public eye and spilled over to social media.
Reid made their divorce public in a note posted to her Instagram Story last June, which said her seven-year marriage to Lochte was “irretrievably broken.”
