Ryan Lochte has taken a $30,000-a-year assistant coaching job at Missouri State University, a new turn for the 41-year-old 12-time Olympic medal winner who says he is trying to rebuild his life after years of personal and professional upheaval. He announced the move this week from Gainesville, Florida, where he now lives, and said the job marks a fresh start after rehab, therapy and a long stretch of instability.

Lochte said the decision comes after a period he described as one of the darkest of his life. He said that after the 2021 Olympic trials he fell into a deep depression, that his mental health deteriorated, and that the home he was living in was toxic. He said an unnamed partner told him, “You’re worthless, you’re a loser. You need to get up and get a job.”

The 6-time gold medal winner said the strain worsened after an almost fatal car wreck in 2023, when he said he turned to alcohol and drugs to escape what he called “the hell” he was living in. Lochte said his drug use was mostly weed and cocaine, that he never used in front of his children, and that he does not view himself as having been addicted. He went to rehab last August and later entered therapy, which he said has helped him significantly.

He is also in the middle of a bitter divorce from Kayla Rae Reid, the mother of his three children: Caiden Zane, 8, Liv Rae, 6, and Georgia June, 2. Lochte said he has found love again with girlfriend Molly Gillihan, who he said helped get him back on his feet and with whom he hopes to marry soon. He said he recently marked their one-year anniversary with a glass of champagne and now drinks only occasionally while avoiding drugs altogether.

For Lochte, though, the turning point remains the scandal that reshaped his public image at the Rio 2016 Olympics. He lied about being robbed at gunpoint after he and teammates Gunnar Bentz, Jack Conger and Jimmy Feigen vandalized a gas station bathroom and paid security for damages. The Brazilian authorities reacted to the false claim, and the fallout cost him major sponsors including Ralph Lauren and Speedo, triggered a 10-month suspension and brought widespread public backlash. Lochte said those losses cost him about $2 million a year and that no one ever taught him financial literacy when he became rich and famous.

Now he is trying to put structure around a career that once seemed untouchable. The Missouri State job gives Lochte a paycheck, a routine and a place back inside the sport that made him famous, but it also stands as a reminder of how far he has fallen and how hard he is working to steady himself. For a swimmer who once lived at the center of the Olympic spotlight, the next chapter looks less like a comeback tour than a long attempt to keep his life from unraveling again.