All About Johnny Weir and Tara Lipinski's Years-Long Best Friendship
The former champion figure skaters are now broadcast and real-life besties.
Tara Lipinski and Johnny Weir, the former Olympian figure skaters and current cast of The Traitors Season 4 (now available for streaming on Peacock), are having a pretty legendary February.
Together with Terry Gannon, they are NBC Sports' returning figure skating commentary team for the 2026 Milan Cortina Winter Olympics, airing daily on NBC and streaming on Peacock. Meanwhile, Johnny and Tara's game on The Traitors has finally kicked into overdrive this season as the playing field shrinks and attention is finally being paid to these long-time best friends.
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Their connection wasn't a secret as the two walked into Ardross Castle on day one, so it's been a little perplexing for viewers that their deep kinship hasn't been a topic amongst their fellow players until this late in the game. The lack of chatter even came up on the January 20 episode of WWHL, when host Andy Cohen asked Johnny on behalf of the audience why they flew under the radar?
"It was our strategy," Johnny explained to Cohen. "We got the offer on the same phone call so we knew we were both going and we wanted to draw as little attention to ourselves as possible. Celebrities, I guess, aren't our target demographic?"
Johnny added it was just as shocking to them that, "The amount of messages we got after filming was over saying, 'We had no idea you were friends.'"
So, let's dig into the origins of their collaborations with one another below, and point out what the castle missed about their past.
Who are Tara Lipinski and Johnny Weir?
The very definition of a wunderkind on ice, Tara Lipinski dominated in individual women's figure skating in the '90s and early 2000s. At the tender age of 14 in 1997, Lipinski became the youngest skater to win a U.S. Championships title. She was the first women's skater to land seven triple jumps, including what became her signature jump: the triple loop-triple loop combination. The 1998 Winter Olympics in Nagano, Japan was her first Olympics and she won Gold, making her the youngest Olympic gold medalist in figure skating history. In 1998, Lipinski went professional and retired from the ice in 2002.
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Johnny Weir made his mark on men's figure skating just when Lipinski retired from the sport. He became a National champion in 2003, and then went on to win three consecutive U.S. titles. in 2008 he won a Bronze medal at the World Championships. He qualified for two Winter Olympic games for Team USA in 2006 and 2010, but he did not medal in either. He attempted to qualify for the 2014 Olympic Team but due to injuries, retired from competition in 2013.
When did Johnny Weir and Tara Lipinski first become friends?
While many assume Tara, 43, and Johnny, 41, were on the ice competing at the same time, that was not the case. Tara told People Magazine that, "Obviously we knew of each other for so many years, skating's a small world. But we never really had time to connect or build a friendship or a relationship."
It wasn't until they separately started their broadcast commentating careers that their paths actually overlapped. "When we started commentating, I was covering the women's and he would cover the men's event," Tara continued with People. "One day, we were just in the studio waiting on a broadcast, and we started bonding over his handbag and my handbag. We started talking, and it was just this instantaneous connection and feeling of home."
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Tara Lipinski told Parade.com that being broadcast booth partners was their idea prior to the 2014 Winter Olympics in Sochi. "We were the ones that kind of told NBC at the time because we were doing it separately. We were like, 'Can you try us out? Can you audition us together?' And then we went to the 2014 Olympics, and now here we are 10 years later."
And they're even Instagram official sharing a joint account: @taraandjohnny.
What did Johnny Weir mean when he mentioned a divorce and infertility issues?
While bonded by sport and on-camera careers, Tara and Johnny say their real-life friendship is deep and committed. They've seen each other through difficult private issues including Johnny's divorce from Victor Voronov in 2014, and Tara's five-year struggle with infertility that eventually led to surrogacy and the birth of baby Georgie with husband Todd Kapostasy.
News episodes of The Traitors Season 4 air Thursdays exclusively on Peacock.
