Ryan Lochte gets emotional over 'you should die' letters following Olympic scandal
The penultimate episode of Celebrity Big Brother on Monday night featured unseen moments from the season, including an emotional Ryan Lochte as he opened up about the struggle he has faced since an infamous incident at the 2016 Summer Olympics in Rio.
When asked why he decided to do Big Brother, Lochte said he wants people to see him for who he is rather than for how he has been portrayed in headlines. He was referring particularly to the affair in which the Olympic swimmer and three of his teammates claimed that they had been held at gunpoint and robbed at a Rio gas station. Later admitting that he had “over-exaggerated” the story, Lochte was dropped by four of his sponsors and charged with filing a false police report.
“They blamed us because I fabricated the story,” Lochte told his fellow Big Brother houseguests. “I said the gun was pointed at my head but, it was, like, from me to you. But when I told the story, I was still, like, really … drunk.” Lochte said that what happened was blown out of proportion and that the incident has become “the hardest time of my life, because I went from everyone loved me, and I was on top of the world, and then I was one of the most hated people.”
Lochte, who has faced an uphill battle in seeking redemption, acknowledged that it has been extremely hard for him. “I’m a role model for these kids, and when I get messages saying ‘You should die,’ and ‘I thought were you my role model; you’re not anymore,’ that is what really got me,” Lochte said as he began to tear up.
The season finale of Celebrity Big Brother airs Feb. 13 at 9 p.m. on CBS.
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