It worked out for these lovebirds! Michael Phelps’ fiancee, Nicole Johnson, opened up in a new interview on Friday, August 12, about her upcoming wedding to the record-breaking Olympic swimmer, and revealed that there was once a time when she thought their relationship wouldn’t make it.
The couple dated on-again and off-again for close to eight years, and Phelps proposed to his longtime love this past February. In May, they welcomed their baby son, Boomer, who is currently stealing the show at the 2016 Summer Olympics in Rio de Janeiro. However, their journey hasn’t been smooth by any means.
“Did you ever think there was a time when you wouldn’t make it together?” Access Hollywood’s Kit Hoover asked Johnson on Friday.
“Oh yeah,” Johnson replied with a laugh while her future mother-in-law, Debbie Phelps, nodded in agreement. “I’m pretty sure we both shared stuff with our parents and it was like, ‘Yeah, this is it. There’s no way we’re getting back together.”
Life, however, is unpredictable. “When we finally did [reconcile], it was still a little rocky in figuring things out,” Johnson admitted. “[We were] figuring each other out because there had been some time, but we didn’t miss a beat. We’re happy and we’ve been back together … and now we have a little one, a wedding at the end of this year, so it’s been a lot of fun.”
Debbie also chimed in on the conversation and shared the reconciliation from her son’s perspective. “They had to figure it out for themselves. They had to mature,” she said with a smile, speculating that her son — like other “young men” — had to go through a phase in his life, where he wanted to “see what he could do and who [he] could be with.”
The swim champ’s mother said he knew when Debbie didn’t like a girl he was dating. However, she approved of Johnson. “He called me and he said, ‘I’m getting back together with Nicole.’ And I said, ‘That’s where you should be,’” Debbie revealed. “And he said, ‘I’m determined to make this happen.’”
The wedding will take place later this year, according to the bride. “We have a date. It’ll be a small and intimate wedding,” the former Miss California shared. “And then we’re throwing a massive bash for everyone in the States, so we’re kind of getting things rolling. I’m kind of planning as we’ve been leading up to this. So I think I have the wedding in order and it’s on to the party for the fun.”
