Not Gonna Lie with Kylie Kelce - Kylie on Olympic Proposals, Gold Medal Games & Tiramisu-Off w/ Laila Edwards, Breezy Johnson & Jason | Ep. 55

Episode Date: February 19, 2026

Kylie is joined by Laila Edwards, Breezy Johnson and Jason for a Winter Olympics Spectacular! Kylie’s honored to sit down with a Team USA Ice Hockey superstar from Cleveland Heights, a newly engaged downhill skiing Gold Medalist and noted NGL food taste tester… Jason Kelce. Kylie kicks off the episode with an important NGL announcement: we will be releasing not ONE but TWO episodes during our time in Milan for the Winter Olympics! (03:12) She also reveals the Winter Olympics sport she has the least business trying and reacts to all the comments on Jason’s bobsledding video. Then, in a very Italian edition of Places Kylie Has *Some* Business Being, Kylie reveals the Italian phrases she has learned so far, including how to properly say f*ck around & find out. (3:38) She also talks about the foods she wants to eat, going to Ice Hockey with Jason and her favorite stories to come out of the Winter Olympics so far. In Doomscroll of the Week, Kylie reacts to the Winn brothers’ amazing posts celebrating their little sister Haley Winn from Team USA’s women’s ice hockey team and also comments once again on Jason’s mullet from back in the day… (08:36) And speaking of Jason, as is the case whenever Kylie tries foods on NGL, she welcomes her husband back to the show to do a full on Tiramisu taste test! (11:40) After that, Kylie sits down with Team USA Women’s Ice Hockey phenom Laila Edwards! (18:47) Laila and Kylie talk about her connection to the Kelce family via The Other Podcast and being the best athlete to come out of Cleveland Heights. (20:04) Laila also gets into what it means to have her family in Milan supporting her (22:21), the Gold Medal Game against Canada (26:34) and how cool it is that she is making history as the first Black woman to play for the U.S. Women’s ice hockey team in the Olympics. (34:14) Kylie is then joined by Gold Medal-winning skier from Team USA Breezy Johnson! (41:07) Kylie gets Breezy to show a close up on both sets of new hardware: her gold medal AND her engagement ring. (42:16) Breezy tells the story of her engagement, including her reaction to seeing Taylor Swift commented on the photos she posted from the big moment. (45:04) Kylie and Breezy also get into how bad Kylie is at skiing (46:22), how Breezy felt during that Gold Medal run (50:03), how she ended up celebrating and her knitting superstition. (53:58) And as a special bonus, Breezy’s fiancé Connor was in the studio and Jason asks him a question about the proposal. (1:01:24) Make sure you tune into More Sh*t Monday on the Not Gonna Lie YouTube channel for even more exclusive clips from our TWO Winter Olympics Spectaculars! Follow Not Gonna Lie on Social Media for all the best moments from the show: lnk.to/j61XD8 Purchase NGL Merch: https://www.nglkylie.com Support Women’s Sports: The Share Winter Foundation, helping make skiing accessible: https://sharewinterfoundation.org/?form=first-chair  The USA Hockey Foundation's fund to support girls’ hockey: https://www.usahockeyfoundation.com/deckerfund  Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Not going to lie, this Olympics mascot are so cute. This is Milo and this is Tina. Yep. Let's get this podcast started. Welcome, or should I say, Benvenuti. That sounds, I really want to say beavenu. To our first ever international episode of Not Gonna Lie, a Wave Original.

That's right, I'm here in Milan. What? with YouTube and NBC at the Milan Cortino Winter Olympics. This is so silly. I'm your host, Kylie Kelsey, food motivated. And speaking of my favorite Italian dish. Oh, no. How do you choose?

Literally pasta in any shape or form. The best movie set in Italy of all time is, oh, of all time makes it feel much bigger. But I really, really enjoy Eat, Pray, Love. I feel like the way Julia Roberts makes you feel about Italy and the food that you're eating and the experience that you're supposed to have is like felt deep in your soul. And I love that truly. Also, the Lizzie McGuire movie. Great second. And the Winter Olympics sport I have the least business trying is definitely bobsledding or any of that type of track.

Speaking of which. Jason went bobsledding and just posted a video on it. The top comment on Jason's bobsled post is at Kylie Kelsey. Are we allowed to watch this asking for permission? Yes, and I highly encourage it. This was not only eye-opening because there's a lot to learn. And I always say I am winter sports dumb. And so I was sat for this entire episode and I really enjoyed it.

I also enjoyed Jason wearing a bobsled suit. So thank you for that. You may look. I give you permission because I was also looking. Now that that's been addressed, coming up on today's episode since I've returned to the birthplace of Places Kylie has no business being. Shout out to Milan Fashion Week. I'm going to talk all things Milan and Winter Olympics in the latest edition of Places Kylie has some business being.

Plus, we're all in for winner. Olympic edition of Doom Scroll the Week featuring a lot of tiramisu. Another great Italian food. Oh, no. After that, I'm going to be joined by not one. This is silly, but two, Team USA Superstars. Layla Edwards, the women's ice hockey phenom from Cleveland Heights, Ohio, and fresh off her gold medal win and her engagement, skiing sensation, Breezy Johnson. I have no business talking to either of them.

and we're going to double whammy it in one episode. Silly. But before we get into all that, let's start off with a quick NGL announcement. If you were already sad that this Winter Olympics episode from Milan was eventually going to end literally don't be. Because we have a second episode. Yep, that's right. It gets even sillier. More people to sit down with. Oh, gosh. It's coming to you this Sunday, February 22nd.

We have amazing guests lined up. So make sure that you subscribe on YouTube and set your... your alerts. All right, told you it was a quick announcement. That was efficient. Next up, we're in Milan, the OG place I said I had no business being. So we're going to do a new version of that segment called Places Kylie has some business being. And this week, I have some business being at the Winter Olympics in Milan. I still, I think this might be under I have no business, but I have some business because go USA. First, as Queen Emma can attest, I've been practicing my Italian phrases.

It's not going great. I have learned, per favor, that's please. Bonjourno. That's hello. Good day, technically. Scusa.

That's, excuse me. Chao. It's hello or goodbye. Ciao, chao, chao. And that's all I've got. That's all my Italian. And I'm trying desperately, really fighting for my life here,

to not have my French schooling bust through. I did find out how to say fuck around and find out in Italian, but I'm going to go to my friend to repeat it again because Morizio is here and he's going to, you're going to hear him in the background because I'm not raw dog. Oh no. Cazegare and scopri-lo. No, say it again.

Cazegare and scopreelroar Oh no. Cacage and scopri-lo. Okay, I'm getting a thumbs up. I'm here with Jason this time. here with Jason this time around. It's a no-kids parent trip. I have eaten everything I've seen.

Literally, if I see it, I'm eating it. I am really looking to get just some homemade spaghetti. I want it and I want it with just Pomodoro. That's it. That's it. That's all I want. Simple, straightforward. And I want to lean so far away from American Italian. because everybody knows in America, you can get it on every corner. And some are better than others. But I want to take pasta to the face in all shapes. And I'm not going to discriminate at all. Also, pizza.

But for some reason, I don't feel as strongly about pizza. The main event so far was definitely the women's ice hockey semifinals last night that we just happened to We came without a plan for something last night. And then as soon as we heard that the women were playing, we were like, can we go? Some of you may have seen us there, courtesy of this tweet that's now going viral. It says Kylie Kelsey and her husband supporting Team USA Women's Hockey. Jason actually just told me about this at breakfast. This is ridiculous.

Cut that out. We've leaned too far in the opposite direction. You know what's great? Jason and Kylie Kelsey. How about that? That's cool. Also, I would just like to point out, I was a little sad about this

because I'm barely ever on my phone. And especially last night, I was busy watching. And then you caught me on my phone. So you caught me. You got me. Got my ass. People were enjoying the caption, though.

I think that maybe we should say both names. But, you know, sure. This was the first competition that we've gotten to see for Winter Olympics, and the women's ice hockey team dominated in a way that I can't explain. And also, I brought my resident ice hockey player and was asking my husband necessary questions because, yes, I did in fact not know what icing was. Don't worry, we'll get to it because Jason ratted me out to Layla. That's fine. I'm only slightly embarrassed. My favorite story so far to come out of the Winter Olympics.

Oh, gosh, that's a good question. There's so many. I mean, we're biased, but Corey and Corey winning silver, big deal. We got to hang out with Corey. We actually got to fuck around and find out with Corey in Sioux Falls, South Dakota, when we went out there to learn how to curl. And we got to meet Corey, that's male Corey. and he was telling us about how he and Corey were preparing to compete.

So that was a big one. Pretty big one. All right, that's it for places Kylie has some business being. Next up, Doom Scroll the Week winner Olympics edition. First up on our Olympic Doom Scroll, two things we love around here are joining forces, hyping up women's sports and supportive siblings. Queen Emma, the clip, please? Mm-hmm.

Yes. Mm-hmm. Mm-hmm. Yeah. So for anyone who doesn't know, these are Team USA hockey player. Haley wins three brothers. They've been putting out some of the best videos of the Winter Olympics so far. First of all, their energy outstanding. Let's start there. Second, the outfits. I mean, to hit the mullet and the jorts, well done. Haley is the youngest of the four siblings and the only girl. So I, I think that this is a really cool, just concept, that the three older brothers are going to the Olympics, but it's to cheer on their little sister. I love that so much. Also, anyone who has been around older brothers, I'm married to one. and you know that the younger siblings, they've been through it. And it's made them better in their life.

It's sent them on the path that they're on. And so I can only imagine that her three brothers helped her achieve greatness. And honestly, ice hockey is a sport of grit and toughness. I feel like not to take any credit from Haley, but I feel like she was better prepared because she had three older brothers and now they're doing exactly what they should be doing and it's cheering loudly for her and wearing jorts while doing it. So well done, guys. And more importantly, well done Haley. We are having a fun time cheering you on. I do think that these are the types of outfits that Jason would lean in on heavily. And I say that because at some of. point in our lives. He not only has worn jorts, but had an actual mullet. So in case you want to look that up, it was, he had the mullet around the birth of Wyatt. And the reason I know that is because I begged and pleaded for him to no longer have the mullet in the photos with our first child.

You guessed it. There is a mullet in the photos of our first child's birth. So did I admit on this show that maybe the mullet was kind of hot? No, I don't know what you're talking about. This is called Not Gonna Lie. But he's sitting in the room so I said. Next scroll. Yeah, that's right. It was magic.

And now he appeared. Look at him in his Italian hat. Yes. Well, it's not. Yeah. It's a flower. I don't know what it is, but I like it. It's a flower.

It's beautiful. Anyway, for my last scroll. I have a special guest. And when we try things, when we eat things on this show, we just really like to have Jason here. Jason likes to be here. Apparently, the Winter Olympics has its very own version of the Paris viral chocolate muffin. I think we all remember that. Everyone was feigning for chocolate muffins.

And of course, the version here, Tirmissou. So Queen Emma is going to roll the clip of the viral tiramisu in the Olympic Village. I think I found the chocolate muffin of the Winter Olympics. It's going to be the tiramisu. And I heard it's insanely good. The smirk. All right, there we go. Positive review.

12 out of 10? Well, he doesn't know how rating systems work. This is the Swiss snowboarder Jonas Hassler. He rated this tiramisu at the Olympic Village a 12 out of 10. We attempted to get this specific tiramisu, but apparently it's nearly impossible to get your hands on, which makes sense because we're not Olympic athletes. So we accept that fate. I will be making every effort to find it this week, but also, I don't know that I've earned the right to taste it. So in the meantime, we...

If you find some, I'll leave it. Okay. Won't stop Jason. In the meantime, we have a tiramisu tasting here with three of the best tiramisus our team could find. So we're going to give it a rating out of 10. That's right. 12 is not part of this rating system. Are you good with that?

Yes, yes. Okay, which one would you like to try first? I feel like we should try the- This is your show, Kai. Whatever you want to try first. You're the queen. I actually don't. You're the queen, I guess.

You're more of the tiramisu fan. I'm not a bit. big tiramisu person. I'm a big tiramisu person. Let's try the flat one first because I think it's, I think you're going to be the least satisfied with this one. With this one. Oh man. I don't like that. I like it. That's fantastic. Really? You don't like that? I said I like it. No, that's why I guess that you wouldn't like it. No, I like this a lot. Oh my goodness. I can't tell if he's kidding. No, that's fantastic. Maybe your tiramisu hang-on. has just been that you weren't eating tiramisu in Italy.

The balance of is great. There's like the biscuit is soggy or whatever, but then there's also a nice crunch to. It's really good. He's going to eat the whole thing. I want to. I'm coming back to that one. We're going next to this jar, the front jar? Trying to get all of it.

Get out of your microphone. That are the ones, I mean, I have all the termisues I've had. It's probably, I can't go 10 out of 10 because I'm waiting. I'm going to go 9.8. That one's fired. Jeez. It's aggressive. It's too high.

My hat's got to fall out to be like a 9.8. All right. All right. All right. All right. All right. Let me edit it. 4.2.

It's not good. I was not good. I was expecting a lot of the jar. I don't know who made it. So sorry to whoever made that. No, no. I did confirm before we tried it. Yeah.

This was purchased. Got it. This custard. The custard is. The custard is. It's not. There's two. It's almost like the custard is like split.

You can see it on the sides. The balance is off. The custard isn't really airy. I still have not rated a single one. Why did you give the first one? It's almost like cheesy. It's a little bit too cheesy. What'd you give the first one?

I didn't rate any of them yet. Okay, rate the first one. Please. I mean, I'm pulling a number out of my ass. Okay, I'm going to go 9-2 on the first one. I think 92 is a fair rating. But just because I don't want to be exactly the same, I'll go 8.9 just because I'm going to leave some buffer to maybe go up.

So I'm going to go six on the second. It's edible. Is it? Yeah. We're going to this one? I feel like... How do I even eat this? Right now I just don't even like that there's a thing of chocolate that doesn't even...

Is it plastic? This one is presentation-wise getting docked. This is the lady finger that soaks up the espresso. My instinct is that the jar is an eight-six. He's going to strongly disagree with me here. Jar's good. You don't like this one now? It's good.

It's good. Jar's bad. Okay. To me, being a complete and total American, that is not, I don't even think I'm part Italian. I want to throw that out there. 9-2, 4-2, 8-6. So much random numbers. All right, I'll go.

I'm going to die. This isn't a 9. It's just not a 9. I'm going to go 8, 7. five, four. Now you're just making up numbers. Seven, six. You went off of all the scores you had already given.

Seven, six? Yeah. So you still think this one's the best one? I think so. I mean, but it's not like as, it was very good the first time I had it. Now that I'm going back to it, it's still good, but it's not like,

I think I was just really hungry when I ate the first bite. I'm so happy that you've come around on Tiramisu. Who had we just had to come to Italy? No, no, I'm only around it in Italy. in Italy. I'm not around it. I'm okay with that. I've been to the nicest Italian restaurant in the United States and had their... Yeah, and he wasn't about it. It's okay. It's fine. He says it's fine, which is great for me. If I could have a avocado pie or something like that, I'd much rather do that, you know, but

the tiramishu I've had so far has been... This only... Very nice. This only... This only solidify, even further solidifies my thought process on a... and desserts because more for me. So, yep, love it. Should I get up now?

No, you're saying until I do this outro on the Doom Scroll. That's it for Doom Scroll the week and our Tirmissue Taste Test. Now it's time for the main event. The reason I'm here and so are you. Our badass Team USA athletes. Oh, God, it's so silly. Once again, thanks to YouTube and NBC for hooking it up, Queen Emma. Let's bring in Layla.

She's the women's ice hockey phenom out of Cleveland Heights, Ohio, a first-time Olympian who has two goals and five assists so far. In the Winter Olympics, she's making history as the first black woman to play for the U.S. hockey team. She's also a University of Wisconsin Badger and a friend of the family. Layla Edwards, welcome to Not Gonna Lie. Thank you for having me. This is so exciting. We are connected by way of the other podcast. We don't say it here.

No, I don't know what you're talking about. Yep, perfect. They, you got a seal of approval from them years ago. Yeah, that was pretty cool. And then you made the Olympics because you're the best athlete out of Cleveland Heights. Yes, thank you. I do have a lot of questions for you because as my husband so nicely exposed me when you first walked in, I was asking him about icing last night.

I did not grow up with a lot of ice hockey around me. I went for the other hockey, the outside hockey. But I was questioning my husband last night, and so I might have more questions for you if that's okay. Oh, definitely. Perfect. Thank you so much. Now, for anyone who isn't familiar with this connection between you and my husband and my brother-in-law, like I said, it's been years in the making. Can you fill everyone in on this story?

Oh, gladly. Yeah, when I first made the year. U.S. national team. I was the first black woman. I got a shout out on that one podcast. I can't remember the name. One of Cleveland Heights's own, Layla Edwards.

Shout out to Layla Edwards. She's set to become the first black woman to play for Team USA senior hockey team. Everyone was just blowing up my phone like, yo, the Kelsey's just shouted you out. Those guys just shouted you out on their podcast. And it was just so cool.

I remember watching the video and thinking, like, wow, you know, just to hear my name coming out of that guy's mouth. It was just really cool. And, yeah, it was just showing the love and support, you know, because we've got a cool community in Cleveland Heights. And, you know, ever since then, I think they've just realized that I'm the best athlete out of Cleveland Heights. It's so fair. No, the guys shout you out again in December for making the Olympic roster. And then they donated to the goal. fund me to make sure that your parents would be here and your whole family would be here for the

Olympics and they're here because I saw them last night. Yes, yes, you did. What has it been like to have your family here in Milan cheering for you? Yes, it's been so awesome. And this has been one of my favorite things to talk about too because everyone's talking about how, you know, those guys donated and it was really nice. But I think it just goes to show. It's like everyone knows them as really good athletes and I think only a handful people get to know how good they are as people. And I think it's just really cool. And I can't thank them enough, you know, just for helping out because my family needs a world to me. To have them here, just that sense of love and support, it allows me to play my best hockey. Well, it's crazy to think that there are actually some Olympic athletes whose families

don't make it over here when it really is an effort of the family, right, to get you to this point, who drove you to practice, who took you to early morning rank? Like, it's, it. Exactly. Rink? Ice. Rink. Rink? Yeah.

Sure. Okay, thank you. Not me questioning all of my hockey lingo. How many family members do we have here? I have 10 family members here. That's such a good showing. I know. It's unbelievable.

That's so good. And the age range, too. It's like my sister's 24 and my grandma's 91. So my 91-year-old grandma's here. No-uh. Yes. Isn't that crazy? Stop it.

Yes. Has she ever been to Italy before? I don't even think she's been out of the country. Stop. Yes. That's going to make me cry. Yes. That is so sweet.

It is so awesome. Is she not the most, like, excited? Yes. It's just so excited and, like, proud and happy to be here. That's so cool of you to give your grandmother the opportunity to not only come, but to have a reason to come to Italy. Right. Exactly, yes.

At 91. I know. I look for her after every game to wave, and it's really cute. Stop it. This is so. could um if if maybe we could just you know weasel our way down there maybe we could just sit near them oh my god they would love that okay perfect yeah we're just gonna we're gonna channel our most cleveland heights energy and then we're just gonna pop right down there no it'll be great yes

it's gonna be awesome perfect um who's the MVP of the edwards family at this olympics i do think i know the answer are yes i think everyone knows the answer it's my mom is it Who are you thinking? Your mother. Okay, good. Yep. Just to be clear. Hands down.

A thousand percent. I actually love her videos on social media. Oh, gosh. So she knows. We're going to watch the fit check right now. Oh, gosh. Okay. I am channeling my Taylor Heisey and Zumwinkle.

Grace Zumwinkle, that is. I'm doing a fit check. Yes, she is. My sweatshirt is courtesy of USA. This is. I have a kid. Hunky moms. I have on Chuck Taylor's.

My kind of girl. My God, you guys are the same person. The red, white, and blue. Nails by Adult Vision by Millie to match. And look at these earrings. Courtesy of Alicia Stephan. That was such good picture. That's like one of five.

There's so many more. Love it. You actually commented on that. You said, oh, goodness. How does it feel, how do you feel about this fit check? You know, at first I was like, oh gosh, like, oh goodness. But then I was like, you know what? I love it.

She's being herself. She's having fun. She had that strong personality. Everyone's enjoying it. I'm like, do your thing. Do your thing. Honestly. She's having her own Olympics right now.

That's the best way to put it. And I am so here for it. Is she your ultimate hype woman? Yes. She is, hands down, my ultimate hype woman. But what I love about her, she's everyone's ultimate hype woman. Like everyone on the team, she cheers for it like to her kid. It is so good. It is so awesome. We love women supporting women. Yes. Yes. That's her. Now, of course,

we also have to talk about Cleveland Heights. I know how much pride my husband and my brother-in-law taking Cleveland Heights. They literally named the other podcast after it. But what do you love about your hometown? Oh, man, there's so many good things I can say about my hometown. The community is just like one of a kind. It's so diverse and welcoming and to understand it the most. You just have to live there. and obviously some pretty good athletes come out of there. Very good. Yes. I'm not even saying this just because you're here.

My husband can vouch for me on this. I love Cleveland Heights. It feels like a warm hug. Yes. It is the most delightful. Like you saying that it's like welcoming. It is. All of that.

And more. It has the most lovely like mom and pop places. Yeah. It is, it just feels like a true sense of community. Yes. And you can tell because when people go out into the world, they still talk about it nonstop. Exactly. And also the number of people who stop me to tell me that they're from Cleveland Heights, I'm like, thank you so much for telling me like I'm part of the party.

Right. Let's talk about the main reason why we're here. Team USA Women's Ice Hockey. You guys are. Do we have wood? This one. Close enough. You guys are crushing it.

Oh, you have wood behind you. I'm going to steal that. Oh, I'm going to steal. Do you mind past? Yeah, of course. That would be so sweet. Thank you so much. Perfect.

Perfect. We forgot our wooden spoon. I'm sure I can find an Italian grandmother to give me one. I have an Italian spoon at home that I keep in the drawer of my desk just for like the moments where I feel like I have gone too far. And I need to back it up with some good juju. First of all, you're making history by playing on this team with every goal you score, How does it feel to play in each game knowing just that?

Yeah, I mean, just knowing that, it's a sense of pride and motivation, you know, just the opportunity to be a role model and an inspiration, you know, regardless of if I chose it or not, it is what it is. And I just love the idea of being able to make an impact on other people. Do you feel that weight? Do you feel the weight of knowing that, like, young kids are watching you? And you're inspiring them to know that they can do exactly what you're doing with hard work in a lot of time.

Yeah. I definitely feel the weight, but I kind of try to channel that into motivation and pride. I mean, it's just so cool. Like, even to hear parents tell me their kid either plays because of me or still plays. It's just nice to know that they have that representation. And I'm hoping that grows. That's so badass. Thanks.

That's so badass. You scored the first goal, your first goal. against Canada. That had to be like a life highlight, right? Oh, for sure. Like of all the games that you could have scored your first goal. Right. That was some ball session right there.

Thank you. I mean, every game is awesome, but it's just a different game against Canada. Yeah. So to get my first one against them, yeah, that felt good. I mean, that's it.

You get to hold on to that forever. You get to take that with you. That's so good. What has this whole experience been like for you? It's been crazy. I mean, it's been the experience of a lifetime. I've got to meet some really cool people. I mean, it's brought me here to, you know, meet you and that other guy that you're with. I think that's really cool. And just to, I don't know, be here and making an impact and just doing what I love is in having a lot of people support me. It's been so cool. Do you, I know by way of my husband that to get time on the ice,

it means early mornings or late nights. I'm sure that you have had your fair share of that and many other things. What has brought you to this moment? Like what are the things that you remember along your journey of maybe those early practices, that extra work that you put in to get here? Because I'm sure that it wasn't just practice time. Right, right. Yeah, I mean, I was never really a morning person,

but my dad made me go. It was like 5 a.m. wake up every day, 6 a.m. to 7 before school. And it was tough, but I got up every single morning that I had to. And I feel it paying off, you know, and just those sacrifices. Like I didn't get to hang out on my friends on weekends because I was traveling to Detroit, Pittsburgh, or somewhere for hockey. I was playing on two teams at morning skate, then night skate, and I would try to get any extra work in in my driveway.

and my dad can attest the fact that I've ruined every single garage door we've ever had. Of course. Naturally. Yeah. And so, yeah, there's been so many sacrifices. And a lot of that, you know, has come from my family too. So I'm sure my dad didn't want to get up at 5 a.m. every day. But he knew, you know, how much I loved hockey and he saw a future.

For any kids listening, specifically young girls listening, you mentioned not going out on the weekends, maybe missing some friend socializing time. Yeah. Do you regret it? I don't regret it at all. Not at all. I mean, I'm here at the Olympics, you know, on Kylie Kelsey's Not Going Live podcast. I mean, what regrets could I possibly have? There's such a drop in the bucket. I ask because, and I want to say this in the most self-aware way, I always talk about, like, my high school experience. I played hockey, field hockey, not ice hockey. I was not cool enough to play ice hockey or coordinated enough on skates. But I spent a lot of weekends where people that I went to school with, I was at public school. People were not taking their sport very seriously or if they were, they weren't the people I was talking to in this moment.

But I had many weekends where people were like, oh, you're not coming here, oh, you're not coming there because I had a 7 a.m. tournament the next morning for field hockey. Exactly. And I never felt like I was missing out. Because when you end up at these places, you end up with probably some of your closest friends. Yes, 100%. Because they're your teammates and you're working towards the same things and they understand the hustle and they understand what you're doing and they understand your passion for your sport. So you bond over that. So I always felt strongly about sharing the message of like I put my eggs in my athletic basket.

And I don't regret it for one second. And I didn't make the Olympics. I played Division III field action. And it was great and I loved it. Well, it's still, like, yeah, if you loved it and that's the thing is, like, there were moments you in there. I was like, oh, I wish I could stay back on my friends. Yeah.

I'm just going to keep it real, but I still don't regret it because those were some of the sacrifice you have to make, you know, to separate yourself from others. It's a small percentage that get to play D1, D3, go to the Olympics. So it's like, you know, you just have to make those. That was so nice of you to put D3 in there with you. That was cute. That was so cute. What did you mean it?

What to your friends back at the University of Wisconsin think of all this? They think it's crazy. You know, they can't even wrap their minds around it. It's really funny. But, you know, a few of them are actually here supporting me too, which has been really cool. This feels like the perfect time to, you're in your senior year at Wisconsin. Correct. This feels like the perfect time to put a plea out to your professors.

Agreed. Perfect. Layla said that she's been busy doing her homework. And considering she's representing our country. let's cut the shit. Please and thank you. Maybe like excused on a couple assignments. Guys, it's second semester senior year.

We really need you to chill out. Okay. I feel like anything that's due between now, it's Wednesday, it's Tuesday. In graduation. Perfect. But if we had to, maybe Monday. Yeah, that's perfect. Maybe Monday. Anything due Tuesday, February 17th, next Monday. I don't know that date either, but we want it. Perfect. We would say no assignments. We're just hundreds. We'll take hundreds, please. Yes. 90s? We'll take 90s. Look, we'll take 10 points off. Yes. For not handing it. Yes. This is a great plea. I feel like. I think this is awesome. This is strong. Yeah. Oh, yeah. Great. We love Wisconsin. go badgers yes go badgers but also go USA yes you're being ridiculous come on outrageous um

we're so excited to cheer you on what will be today because this this episode comes out on Thursday you guys are playing Canada yes how are you feeling I'm feeling so excited you know it's obviously it's all this talk about how good and dominating we've been but no it's for a reason because we're good and in the most humble way It's just facts. I do think there is a degree where you need to have what some people, I think truly non-athletes would call cocky, is confidence. Yes, you have to have some of that. You have to.

You have to be like an elite player. First of all, there's some swag to it. Like, as an athlete, you have to sort of like have a little bit of like, yeah, I'm cool. Have you seen me play my sport? But also, I think that like that confidence, you obviously could not go out there if you were questioning yourself. Yeah, exactly. You would not be able to be as dominant or as good as you are if you were out there like, I don't know, am I good today?

Exactly. So that's called confidence. Cut, cut it out. How about that? Is it surreal to think that you guys are in the final game? Yes. I mean, like I've dreamt of going to the Olympics my whole life, but the dream really has been getting to that gold medal game.

So it's still hard to believe. It is nuts to think how many kids play. ice hockey and dream of exactly what you're talking about, making it to the Olympics. But the people who make it is such a small margin. The people who end up getting to play in the game you are about to play in is even tinier. You're about to do that. It's crazy when you put it that way. That's so nuts.

Oh my gosh, I'm so excited. This makes me more excited. Now after the Olympics and after you finish your college season, We do have the professional women's hockey league in the U.S. Correct. What does it mean to have that option and the support of the league? It's awesome. I mean, it's something to look forward to after college. There's uncertainty of what to do after college because there's a U.S. team,

but you only get together so often. So just to have that league and it's growing at a pretty good rate, I'm really excited. And to have that support, it's good. It's awesome. The boom right now for women's sports in general is great. And the coolest part is that you are actively a part of that. It is cool. That's so amazing.

Is there anything else you want other young women out there who want to be like Layla Edwards? What would you say to them? I would say, you know, if you love something, even if there aren't many people that look like you or support you, you know, you believe. long. I feel like loving something is enough. That's such a good message. Um, now I just want to say as a proud person who married into Cleveland Heights as if I have any ownership into Cleveland Heights whatsoever, I would like to think I am because it's very cool there and I love it. Um, we're very proud of you. Thank you. Yes, I am trying to speak for Cleveland Heights, but I'm going to get a nod from my husband in the corner who can't. There we go.

Thank you so much for coming today. Thank you for having me. This is so cool that you took the time to do this. I'm so sorry that we interrupted your week. Yeah, I'm so annoyed. I'm so, this is so awesome. I'm so excited to cheer you on on Thursday.

Thank you. You and the entire team, we will be cheering extra loud. Yes. So, don't worry. Please, dear God, that would be so amazing. But also on behalf of Cleveland Heights, like, you're a part of us. Thank you so much. Thank you.

Not that you needed my validation. No, no, I do because my husband's never said that. It's kind of ridiculous. Huh. He's shrugging in the corner. He was like, don't give her all that. He's like, she has not earned it at all. Don't give her that.

Thank you so much. Thank you. Oh my gosh. Who is this? Look at this. Hello. How are we doing? We brought my resident Cleveland Heights person into the frame because there's something

exciting happening. What's happening? Yes. I don't know yet. I was going to tell us. Yes, I wanted to give you some few things before I left. This is so exciting. I was just hyping up these jerseys, literally last thing.

Yeah, you were. I was. I'm so excited. Oh, my goodness. Thank you so much. This is insane. Okay. So you're racing on the team now.

Look at that. Look at that. What's the same, baby. This is very cool. I got some pins too. I couldn't leave without giving you pins. This is amazing. The whole thing.

Yes. The whole thing. How many pins have you collected so far? Let me see which one. Upwards of 30, 40, maybe 50. I'm so excited. Well, we will be cheering you on. Thank you.

I am very, very excited. And for the record, I'm going to, that's that. Perfect. I don't think you guys need it. What are the keys of victory against Canada? What do we got to do? Start fast, finish strong. Love that.

Simple. Perfect. There we go. You guys did start fast. Yeah. We were talking about, it felt like they were hanging back a little bit, like a little bit of zone. Yeah. Early on, they just weren't pressing very hard.

No. And then you guys said, enough of this. That's not going to end well for you. Yeah. Also, side notes, do you guys fight? Like, yes, but we can drop our gloves, like the men. Okay. Because we don't have as good dental insurance that they do.

And we have cages, so. Sure. But it gets feisty, like, against our, against Italy. Like, we were getting into it. Like, were you? Yeah, there's a few little, like a little brawls, but it gets crazy against Canada.

And I have a feeling Thursday, it'll be, you know, more stakes. Stakes are higher. Because even last night, there were some, like, blatant. Oh, yes. All I'm saying is, is like, if you need backup.

I know who to call. I'm tall. Mm-hmm. I don't think she needs you real good. I know she doesn't. No. That's why I said if you need back. But it's good to have that.

Yeah, yeah. For sure. You just let me know. I appreciate that. Okay, great. I'll let you know. Thank you so much for coming. Thank you for incredible.

Thank you for the gifts. These are amazing. And you're doing it. And thank you for doing it because you are representing so much good that everyone in the world needs to see, but including young girls who need to see an athlete who has poured everything into their work. And also to still be paying homage to where you've come from and Cleveland Heights and your roots is. is so incredibly beautiful. So thank you for being the most incredible role model to young women.

Thank you so much. And good luck. Thank you. She's a two-time Team USA Olympian fresh off of her gold medal win in women's downhill skiing here at the Milan Cortina Winter Olympics. She's also fresh off of her engagement scene around the world.

She's a world champion in alpine skiing and apparently also knitting. Freezy Johnson, welcome to not going to lie. It's so incredible to be here. I am so grateful that you took the time. First of all, congratulations. Thank you. I just mentioned before we started recording, but I didn't even think to myself,

Breezy so casually was like, oh, should I put this on? And she pulled out her gold medal, and I didn't even think that you would have it on you. But to see it in person is bananas to me. Also, what I did ask to see when you walked in was your engagement ring, congratulations. Thank you. Yeah, I mean, you're used to Lombardi trophies. They're a little harder to hold in your pocket. No, you're not carrying those around.

Also, Super Bowl rings get lost in our house. Oh, well. Yeah, don't worry. It's in a landfill somewhere in Cincinnati. I wish I was kidding. I think maybe it would be fun to see both sets of hardware that you have. So if we could just get a close-up on your eye cell, look at those two pieces of hardware together. Are you kidding? Stop it. Okay, for anyone who hasn't

seen the clip of your engagement, we have it right here. Your fiancé Connor proposes at the finish line of the Super G event. Let's see it. Worked so hard and achieved so much. And yet you still find the time to love me, to make me feel special. And most importantly, you help me. Does it make you tear up? A little bit. And now that I know what that feels like, there's only one way I want to spend the rest of my life. And that is by your side. He looks great about this. Will you marry me? That you forever get to remember his words? Because I am on record saying that I blacked out. I have no idea what my husband said. I know he asked me to marry him, but I forget all the things that led up to it. Yeah. I mean, even right afterwards, they were like, what did he say? And I was like,

I don't know. I was just crying. Run the clip. Is it true that you always wanted to get engaged at the Olympics. So not always, but when I went to my first games, there was rumors that like one of my teammates was going to get engaged and it kind of just like stuck in the back of my head. I didn't, wasn't dating anybody at the time. It wasn't on the horizon. But I was like, that would be cool. And then like thinking through it further, like, I mean, obviously the Paris games, there were so many really cool love stories that came out. And I was like, yeah, I feel like that'd be pretty cool. It's great. And then you did it. Was your fiance aware that? that you liked that idea.

Yes, I did tell him that I had always kind of had that idea. And then about a year ago, he was like, okay, so like, are you serious about this? Because he was like, I need a plan. And then there was a lot of people that he had to get the say-so from. He had to move around the Italian president to avoid to get into that. the finish on the day. Yeah, so it was very logistically challenging for him. And yeah, but he pulled it off. Yeah, he did. How surprised were you on a scale one to ten? Well, I mean, it was like a two or a three, because I knew it was coming. But when he came over, I have like the ring box and it doesn't

look like a traditional ring box. I was like, oh, he's got like a cute little note or something. Like, this is adorable. And then he opened it up and got on one knee. And I just started crying. So, yeah, that's so perfect. Well, when you posted the pictures afterwards, the photo you shared, your ringbox has the lyrics from Taylor's song, The Alchemy. Yes. We all know that. For anyone who somehow doesn't know what happened next, can you please share?

So at some point, between then and our dinner time, somebody at Taylor's team saw it. probably assume told Taylor she was like oh that's adorable and then she wrote my favorite lyric from the song which is where's the trophy he just comes running over to me congratulations as a comment on my post

and then we were at dinner and the girls were like like she commented like Taylor Swift commented and I was like on what and then they were like on your post and I was like and then I went in and I don't know for some reason Instagram didn't automatically put it at the top, which seems like summarized better.

Seems like Instagram to just do that automatically. But so it was like scrolling, scrolling. And then it was like, oh my God, that is on my post. How dare they bury the lead like that? That's ridiculous to hide that comment. I do love your response as well. You said, I don't know what's better. Olympic gold or this comment.

Sourdough engagement gift, please. Would you, would love to teach you to ski? Is this further down the rundown? me admitting my skiing story? Perfect. The first time I ever skied, we were in Aspen and we went to a mountain. And then I found out that there was not a single green run on that mountain. And there wasn't even a bunny hill.

And we ended up on a blue run with my husband going, just get on your edges. And I was like, what the fuck is an edge? So it went great. I maybe I've gotten better, I think. Jason, would you like to agree with that? I mean, we were on a bunny hill last time we were there. And I did better. I didn't fall down.

I didn't fall down. Needless to say, can I join your ski lesson? Of course. Okay, great. Yes. Because I'm not the best skier. That's okay. I'm actually pretty bad at skiing.

But I can hit a pizza pretty hard all the way down the hill. Yeah. That's where you start. Great. Just annihilate my hips. No, I'm going to take a wild guess. Are people already asking you about the wedding? Yes.

That's crazy. That's crazy behavior. Yeah, they asked me within five minutes. And I... When are you thinking? When are you going to happen? And I was like... Really, the only date that I knew was like maybe sort of this one.

Yes. Yes. We had to get through this. Now we'll make another decision. Do you like have any thoughts on wedding planning? Um, I mean, we've talked a little bit, I guess. So, yeah, I'd like it. I think in the fall, and we're talking about doing it in Jackson, which is where I'm from. So, yeah. In due time, guys, they all have plans in due time. You leave them be. Now, I did see that you and Connor met on Bumble.

That is true. And from a Tinder couple, I can deeply appreciate that. So, Well done. Thank you. Is Bumble also a swipe situation? Correct. Great. We swiped our way right into that. Yeah.

I feel good about it. Yeah. Yeah. The Bumble is, the whole thing with Bumble was that you message first, right? Yes. Oh, great. What was your message? Good one.

I know, right? I was, sorry. I forget about which one's which. Yeah. So he was, he had like Noah Khan, like some of his music tastes. And I'm a big Noah Con fan. So, and I had just been to like a little. concert of his that they did for Michaela Schiffran.

So I was like, oh, it was just at a little Noah Khan concert. So that it really intrigued him. He's like, can I come? He was definitely like, yeah, I think I should probably try to figure out how to get the in here. That's perfect. Yeah. Okay.

You did better than me. I messaged first, but on Tinder. Yeah. Yeah. And it was, I didn't pick up lines. It was good. It was good enough that we're married with four kids. Yeah.

You know? It also wasn't great. But also, I mean, it must have been something on Tinder for you to message him first. He was probably. Oh, it was just, it was funnier that way. It wouldn't have been as funny if he was like, hey, what's up? I had to hit him with the pickup line first. Yeah, you got to go in strong.

So I appreciate that Bumble does that. Which pickup line? My first one was, I need life alert. I've fallen for you and I can't get up. Very, very corny. Thank you. I said you can do better than that. And then I said, if I told you I work for UPS, would you let me handle your package?

Yeah. I was sad on. And he said, that's great. So, okay, we're fine. Now, I also got to ask you about the other piece of hardware, that gold medal. Once again, congratulations. I was just watching your gold medal run. And it is insane.

it's incredible i don't even and i told you when you first walked in i'm winter sports dumb because i didn't grow up in a winter sports family which is why i failed so hard at skiing um this run was unreal this is your first ever medal correct from the olympics yes and it's gold Yeah, I mean, I, so I qualified to the team in 2018. Going into this games, I was like, this may be kind of my last games at the top of my game, although ski racers careers are going longer and longer. And yeah, it was definitely like a crazy full circle moment. It was, you know, I just kind of kept coming back to like trying to execute my plan,

trying to execute my run. by four hundredths of a second, which is very, very small amount of time, I pulled it out. It's so good. How did you feel in that moment? Doing it is like, like, skiing is a really cool sport because you're doing a lot of mental physics at 80 miles an hour. So it's very physical and very mental. You're trying to figure out the right line.

You're trying to figure out how to ski it. you're trying to time everything correctly, but you're also resisting up to 4 Gs of force and trying to avoid the nets, which are very hard and not fun to hit. So, yeah, doing it, it's a very, I call it like the feeling of being alive. I think that people that do sports that they really love,

I think that that's a lot of what kind of brings them back to it, is that feeling of being fully in the moment of being connected between mind and body. And so that's kind of why I love skiing. It's something that I will never get anywhere close to emails per hour on skis. But watching you do it is one of the most impressive things. Now, one of my favorite clips from the entire Olympics so far, you were asked the day you won how you planned to celebrate.

And we have the clip of that. How are you planning on celebrating tonight? Um, I'm not really sure yet. I haven't even had lunch, so I just like to get some food to start. That's such an important take. Yeah. Um, what did you end up having for lunch? So I ended up having pumpkin risotto. It was actually funny because we got, I mean, we ran at like 1130. So it was kind of too early for lunch. So I really hadn't eaten since breakfast. That clip was taken around three.

And I got back at like 4.30. That's too much time. Yeah, I, like, texted ahead and I was like, can I have the pumpkin risotto? They have really good pumpkin risotto. And the servers were like, no, it's too late. Like, we don't have the lunch menu anymore. And, like, one of my, one of our staff members was, like, running around, like, she just won a gold medal.

She can have the pumpkin risotto. So eventually they got me the pumpkin risotto. That's such a good team member. Yeah. Good job, because that's important. Also, how did you end up celebrating your gold medal? So we had a team to be. that night and we, you know, all got around and everybody said heartfelt things and we cried some

more. And then we still had more racing to do. So it was still a pretty early night in and just hung out with my now-fiancee and went to bed at like 9.30. Right back to it. Yeah. I also mentioned this in your intro, but I have to ask you about the knitting. Yeah, so I'm a big knitter. I try to knit a new hat or headband for every race. So yeah, I have a couple of them here somewhere, but I don't think they're in this room specifically, which is unfortunate. But yeah, I like to knit and I knit a lot like before competition

and just to calm down. And then, yeah, it kind of became a superstition because I started having new, whenever I had new nits in the finish, then I did well. And even if I liked the nits and I wore them again, then I wouldn't do well. So then it. New nits, it is.

I had to stick with it, but now I have way too many knits. Now, are you knitting with like traditional knitting needles? Yes. So how do you feel, you're saying you make headbands and hats, how do you feel about the looms that you just crank? That feels like cheating. I don't mind it as cheating. I do a lot of complex knit, so a lot of twist it.

And I don't think you can do that on the looms. But no, I mean, I think whatever crafts people want to do is great. Which hat or headman are you most proud of? Do you have a favorite? There is a favorite. There's a white one that I'm really proud of. It's got like a cool basket weave and these like diagonal.

I do a lot of diagonal ones. But the one that Connor was wearing in the finish, like that one is also one of my favorites. Okay. Now, the idea of you not wearing them again and needing a new knit, it speaks to the superstitious. person in me. Yeah. Deeply. That's why I have a chunk of wood here

because I was needing to knock on it earlier. Yeah. Yep. You never know. So you would say it's a superstition at this point, not to wear the same one? Oh, yeah, it's definitely a superstition. I love that so much.

Do you have any other superstitions? I have lucky socks. This is perfect. This is safe space. I have to fist bump my physio and my ski technician once before I go in the gate. This is so perfect. I'm a big stomper, so I have to stomp before I go, yeah, there's... Do you do one of your lucky socks on before the other one?

Like, do you have a specific foot? No, I also, like, I did have to draw the line at wearing them dirty, so if they're dirty, then I have to wear something else. Okay, but let's not do that. Yeah. Sure. But, no, I'm pretty superstitious, generally. I love this so much.

Same. Wow. How do, like, let's just say hypothetically, if someone wanted to commission you for a headband? You got like an Etsy store? Do I just ask you here? You can just ask me, I can definitely send you one. Your people can talk to my people, which is just me. But yeah, I mean, it's also like at this point, I need so many of them for the finish.

So I'm like curious if it's okay if I wear one in the finish and then, give it to you. Yes. Aggressively, yes. For all of your fans and all the new fans you've gained throughout the Winter Olympics, what's next for you? So we have more World Cup races. Ski racing is a little bit like Formula One. We have races every weekend.

And then every four years we go to one of them is the Olympics. And so now we go back and at the end of the year we'll have the, we have Crystal. We have Crystal Globes, which are like, you know, the overall champion. So those are a really big deal. So off to go, try to win one of those. And then probably a beach vacay. That's the spirit. Okay.

Now, the last question for you, Breezy, and I love to talk to female athletes about this. How can we get more girls into skiing? So for one, I mean, obviously Olympic success has always, like, inspired young athletes. I work with a couple of great organizations, Share Winter and Coombs Outdoors, which works in Jackson, to get underprivileged kids skiing. I understand that there's huge barrier to entry with skiing, and I think we're working to try to bring some of those costs down and get more people into it. I think, you know, I love skiing. I love to see people in sports. And so also if people are like, I live in Alabama and I just love skiing, it's like,

well, maybe try some water skiing or something. Like, I'm not, you know, I'm not going to, if people get, if people get moving and they get doing something that they love, I think that there's a sport for everyone. The other thing I want to ask is how can they follow in your footsteps to be a gold medalist? Like, what would you say is your biggest advice to end up doing what you've done? So one piece of advice that I think was really big for me is from an early age, I, skiing equipment's really important. It's probably one of the, one of the reasons that you were struggling with your skiing the first time is that a lot of, for blaming this. A lot of equipment out there is really not very good, especially rental equipment. Perfect. And so, that's what it was. Um,

so I always worked from a young age to make sure that my equipment was consistent and as good as I could get it, which it's not, not that good now that I know what I'm looking at, but still much better than a lot of people and to have it consistent every day, like allowed me to have something stable under my feet that I could progress with. And then also, I mean, I think you, as any athlete, you have to be able to find joy in the process, find joy in the work, because, you know, it's taken me 30 years and I just got my first one of these and it's really cool. But you can't survive 30 years before it unless you enjoy the work that goes into it. And so find join the process, find meaning in the process, and that'll help get you there.

Well, thank you so much for coming to do this, taking time out of your very busy schedule. I always like to tell female athletes, we have four daughters. And so seeing athletes who are doing this is such an incredible thing for our girls to get to see and get to aspire to or even just cheer you guys on. So thank you so much and congratulations on everything. Thank you. Yeah. All right. And that's a wrap on the first of our two Olympic episodes of Not Gonna Lie. You'll be able to find even more clips from my longer conversation with Leila and Breezy on my YouTube channel on More Shit Monday. Again, reminder, I'll be back this Sunday. As in three days from now with another Olympic extravaganza. We have some amazing guests lined up.

You're not going to want to miss this. Follow us on social media at NGL with Kylie for clips throughout the week. Listen and subscribe wherever you get your podcast. Not going to lie, is a wave original. Thanks to our partners at YouTube and NBC. And of course, thanks to the real ones for tuning in. Thank you. That's so perfect.

Oh, thank you so much. Oh, my gosh, you spelled Elliott right. That's impressive. I did my best. Oh, thank you. I had a question for Connor, actually. What happened? Was there a backup plan in case?

Oh, yeah. Yeah, you had one just in case. We were confident going into it, I'm sure. There were several. Yeah, so there were several backup plans. One, we didn't know if she was going to qualify for the Super G at first. So I had multiple plans depending on which race was going to be her last. And then, I mean, even at the Super G, I'm not sure where you guys are, but she crashed.

So that was a pretty, pretty hectic moment where I didn't know. if she was even coming down to the finish line, right? So luckily, the best part of that day was she got up pretty much unscathed. So the backup plan, though, was if she was not feeling it in the moment, I did have a little engagement party put together back at the hotel. So we would have pivoted to that. And then worst case scenario, if I needed to do it in the hospital, I would have done it there. So that was.

I'm so glad you didn't have to. Knock on that word there. That's right. There we go. Oh my gosh, I'm so glad you're in. I literally, I just love that we're like disembodied voices. This is a women-supporting women podcasts. We just have the men's in the corner of it.

Answer from a random microphone. I'm so sorry.