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It's true Michael Phelps brought six new medals home from Rio, but the real star of his final Olympic performance, or at least the cutest, smushiest one, was his tiny baby, Boomer Phelps. (You may have seen him on Instagram?) The 3-month-old was a mainstay in the bleachers alongside his mommy, Nicole Johnson, his grandma, Debbie, and his noise-canceling headphones (gigantic). Cosmopolitan.com spoke to Johnson, who dated Phelps on and off for eight years before getting engaged in 2015, about her experience at the games, whether she'd ever try cupping on Boomer, and what she thought of Ryan Lochte's false robbery claims. And because there's more to her résumé than "supportive future spouse" — she's a former Miss California and communications expert — she also gave Cosmopolitan.com the scoop on what's next, career-wise.
Boomer is 3 months old now?
Yeah, he'll be 4 months on [Sept. 6]. Michael is making fun of me because I keep saying "15 weeks."
Everyone is obsessing over his Instagram account. Do you worry about him growing up in a time when social media is both a curse and a blessing? There's online bullying and body-shaming — it's so different than how we grew up.
I definitely agree and it's a concern, but I don't think Michael or I expected it to blow up the way that it did. The day he was born, we got his name [on social media], just because we wanted to make sure we had that handle. Then we were out and Michael said, "Hey, I'm going to post something." Michael runs it — he asked me if I wanted the password to post pictures on it and I told him no because I love watching him do it. I send the pictures and Michael does the posting.
[instagram ]https://www.instagram.com/p/BJD2KH4hcW-/?taken-by=boomerrphelps&hl=en[/instagram]
Being down in Brazil with the Zika scare, was that something you were concerned about?
It was definitely something Michael and I looked into and talked to five personal doctors as well as Boomer's pediatrician about. Fortunately, Boomer came sooner than we had planned and it allowed us to make that decision for us to go without feeling like it would affect anything. Had we been in the position where we would have been looking to have children after the games, we would have taken a different approach to it.
Everyone was talking about Michael cupping — and I'm hearing that is also a trend with mothers and their babies, kind of along the lines of baby massage. Have you guys ever considered or tried cupping on Boomer?
I personally love cupping, but I haven't done cupping on him. I think we're both kind of like, "He's so young and doesn't have a lot of muscle," but we know there's major benefits behind it. Actually, it's something I want to research now that you're bringing it up — I'm curious to hear what people have to say about that. Michael doesn't think it's right. He's only 4 months and he thinks it's weird.
You said you're a big fan of cupping. Were you the one that introduced it to Michael?
No, actually his trainer [Keenan Robinson] said, "Do you want to try this?" It was something he thought [Michael] would benefit from. It was because of [his trainer] that I tried it as well. I had always heard about it and didn't try it, but it's a lot easier to access when you have a trainer who has his own [cupping] set at your house. Keenan has just been so amazing to Michael. They've been together for 12 years, so anything Keenan brings up and recommends, we're going to do. I'd be curious to hear what Keenan has to say about cupping on a child. He knows the science behind it. He does all the research.
It was a fad for a while and there are several different schools of thought around cupping. You have the ancient Chinese who do it, you have the — and I don't want to stereotype — but you have the hippies who do it. It's getting rid of the toxins. Then you have the science behind it.
People are convinced that Michael is not actually going to retire. Why do they think that and what are your thoughts on that?
People probably assume that because he came back this time. He said he was absolutely done and never coming back, and then he came back. I look at it a few different ways. I don't see him coming back because he went out exactly how he wanted to go out, and he's happy, and he did what he wanted to do. He wasn't forced into it. From that standpoint, I don't see him going back. Then again, you never know. Maybe he misses it so much and maybe Boomer convinces him that he has to go back so Boomer can remember it.
Maybe there'll be another little guy by then.
Right? We'll have somebody else who's like, "Why am I not in those pictures?" Maybe that will push Michael enough to go back.
How do you imagine your life changing now? What does the next phase look like — assuming he stays retired?
Assuming he stays retired, it's just us being able to enjoy our relationship. It's good and bad that Michael had to put swimming before us in a lot of instances, but there's also a very high level of understanding on my behalf because he wouldn't be who he is if it wasn't done that way. Now we get to have fun. We were out riding bikes yesterday while my mom watched Boomer. We get to enjoy parts of life that everybody gets to on a daily basis that we had to step away from so Michael could go and do what he needed to do.
What's a typical date night for you guys?
We're still learning what date night is and we're balancing with Boomer. We love going to dinner. We love being home and cooking together. We're homebodies. We like to play cards together. We'll go in the backyard and play cornhole. I think that was our very first date night was playing cornhole in the backyard because we had someone who could watch Boomer at the house.
[instagram ]https://www.instagram.com/p/BG0xPFon4_t/?taken-by=nicole.m.johnson&hl=en[/instagram]
What's the most romantic thing you've ever done and vice versa, what's the most romantic thing he's ever done?
What I see as being romantic is probably different from what other people see as being romantic. For me, those moments are shared together at home. I always expected him to roll over one morning and propose to me in bed. I never expected something extreme, like other people would do it in front of others or they'd do it out on a cliff somewhere.
You have a background in marketing and communications — and you said years ago, in 2009, that you were interested in going into sports reporting. Is that something you still think about?
Yeah, so when I graduated from [the University of Southern California,] I expected to be working in the sports field … my dream job would have been reporting on Formula One. That went out the window, obviously, when Michael and I started dating — his career essentially came first. I moved to Ann Arbor so we could be together because he was going into Beijing. I put what I expected to do with my life on hold, but that was all my own decision. So when I came back, I tried to get into sports and ended up selling cars and had a lot of fun with that. In terms of using my degree, I started working for YP; I signed on as director of communications. And now I'm volunteering with Michael's foundation on their marketing side. In a really, really roundabout way, I'm back to where I wanted to be to start.
Could you see yourselves collaborating on something else professionally?
I would love to. Possibly hosting or reporting of some kind. But right now my main priority is being a wife to Michael and Boomer's mom.
[instagram ]https://www.instagram.com/p/BJheyxlAXh_/?taken-by=m_phelps00&hl=en[/instagram]
What did you think of NBC's coverage of the Olympics?
I saw bits and pieces. A lot of people would send me video because obviously we were in Rio. I think they did a really good job.
They've been getting some criticism because the ratings were down. Where did you feel they were lacking if at all? From your marketing and communications background, where did they go wrong?
My gosh. Ratings were down?
Ratings were down from previous years so there was criticism over that, and there was some criticism saying it was sexist or America-centric.
It would be interesting to know what the ratings were from week one to week two. I think a lot of what should have been watched on week two wasn't watched because of other stuff that took place in Rio and shouldn't have. In regards to being American-centric, they tried their hardest to not be so American-centric, but why not? We're a proud country, we took away the most medals, our athletes trained their butts off. I know they've talked to Michael about possibly commentating [on the Olympics] but he can't say "we" and he can't be American-centric, and he should be because he's the epitome of the American dream. In regards to ratings, honestly I would be curious to see where those ratings fall East Coast versus West Coast because they delay their feed on the West Coast and a lot of people don't watch, they record it.
What was your reaction to the Ryan Lochte news? First when it broke, then as the story fell apart?
I think it's really sad that it took away from the other athletes that were there and worked so many years to get there. That's from what Ryan did and that's from what the media did. The media didn't need to give it as much airtime as it had. They should have paid more attention to what was going on and continued to praise what happened the first week versus shifting stories and looking at what Ryan did so much.
When I first heard the news I thought, This is so terrifying, and then I was disgusted. Did you go through all of those emotions too?
Yeah. My first gut reaction was, "Why in the heck were you out in Rio like this?" You've been given all the stats from staff … you do or you don't know better. Again, it's sad. Rio was amazing. They did a phenomenal job at keeping things safe for everyone and making sure the athletes were very well taken care of, including the families. The number of fans Michael and Boomer had, they're very loving people. It's a shame they've been painted in such a negative light because of what Ryan did.
I almost felt ashamed of myself for not giving Rio the benefit of the doubt at first and immediately taking his word for it.
That's exactly it, and I struggled with it and thought, Why did Ryan have to do that to Rio? I get that it's scary, but there's no reason to give an account on national television the way that he did. It's sad to me because of exactly what I already said. They were so kind and so gracious to Michael and so gracious to us in the stands. I get that there's the bad side to it, but we have corrupt people in our society too.
Switching gears from something serious to something silly, do you mind people writing about and ogling Michael's bulge?
It goes with the territory. He's a swimmer and you leave little to the imagination. I laugh about it. When he very first met my grandmother, she said, "I didn't recognize you because you're not in your Speedo."
I need to be friends with your grandma. How does Michael feel about it?
I think he's seen some of it and it makes him laugh, but he hasn't seen all of it. We definitely laugh. I forgot who released the best bods right before the games — I texted him and sent him the link to the article and was like, "Why the heck are you number [whatever], you need to be number one."
So obviously you're not getting offended that the men are being objectified?
If we're going to objectify women, why not objectify men? Not that I'm saying that it's right. It's not right on either front. You can't look at it and take it so seriously.You have to laugh about it.
You've got big wedding plans coming up. How are you splitting the wedding planning duties? What are you most excited about and what is Michael most excited about?
I took on everything, obviously, because he had to focus on going to the games. And now I'm like, "What do you think about this and what do you think about that?" I know Michael well enough to know he doesn't need to partake in the tiny, minuscule decisions. But I also know him well enough to know that he does want to be involved in what flavor our cake is going to be and what flowers he thinks are ugly and what flowers he thinks are really pretty. I show him pictures and I ask what he thinks and he'll either brush it off, which means he doesn't really care, or he'll give me his opinion.
Is there something that surprised you regarding what he cared about?
I didn't think he would care about our flowers.
Do you picture swimming or Olympics being involved in the wedding day in any capacity?
I don't think so. That's like Michael's job. Would you want to involve your job reporting at your wedding?
So we're not going to see him wearing his medals down the aisle?
Oh, no, no, no. I don't think he'll do that and I don't see us getting married in a pool either.
[instagram ]https://www.instagram.com/p/BHh9EG7BU2A/?taken-by=boomerrphelps&hl=en[/instagram]
Kate Middleton and Prince William went through a brief split before getting back together and getting married. They said it was the best thing that ever happened to them. What would you say you learned from that time you guys split up?
It was definitely bad timing. Michael and I both know that had we tried to have a child and get married in the previous time we were together, it probably would not have ended pretty. We both had a lot of growing up to do. We both had a lot of learning about ourselves to do. I don't think you can be in a good relationship unless you love yourself to the fullest and you want to help the other person become a better person. We definitely needed that time apart to recognize that about ourselves and to appreciate one another.
[instagram ]https://www.instagram.com/p/BHrzEJzgVdN/?taken-by=nicole.m.johnson&hl=en[/instagram]
Did you know during that time apart that you would be back together or did you truly think it was over?
There definitely were times, and I think Michael would say the same thing, where I hated him. We were at odds at times. Even when I loathed him, there were still times when I was like, "God, I wish I was with him."
What's your fondest memory of being Miss California?
Probably the girls that I met. I still talk to quite a few of them. People believe it's a catfight, but I think our class was a lot nicer than some of the other classes that passed through, according to the house moms. You meet some of your best friends being a pageant girl.
Can we expect Boomer to be in some of those kiddie beauty pageants?
No. And if we have a girl, she can decide if she wants to do pageants. I didn't do my first until I was 17. I'm not pushing any child into pageants. The moms that do it for their kids, major props to them. It's way more competitive at that age than when you're older.
Oh, one more thing: Did you get to meet Matthew McConaughey?
I didn't. He was on the other side of the stands. He wasn't looking for Boomer.
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