Stephanie Rice changes her name and starts a new life in Dubai as she gives up her dream of being CEO of a big company after ‘being asked by God to resign’ from her job

DAILYMAIL.COM • 3h ago

By MONIQUE FRIEDLANDER, ASSISTANT SHOWBUSINESS EDITOR, AUSTRALIA 05:52 12 Oct 2026, updated 05:54 12 Oct 2026

Stephanie Rice has undergone a personal rebrand, changing her name and creating a new Instagram account after quitting her job and ‘starting again’ at 38.

The three-time Olympic gold medallist has adopted her husband Mark Lassey’s surname as she embarks on a fresh chapter in Dubai, where she is now promoting her services as a business consultant.

But the former swimming champion’s latest career pivot comes after she walked away from what she described as her dream job – becoming CEO of a company – because she believes God ‘asked her to resign’.

Rice revealed the decision on Sunday in an emotional post on her new Instagram account, Stephanie Lassey, where she reflected on the dramatic highs and lows that have shaped her life since retiring from elite sport.

‘Feels like the perfect time to start a fresh account, in my new name, and with a new commitment to sharing the journey God is taking me on,’ she wrote.

In her bio, Rice described the account as being for the woman ‘who knows she is capable of more but is tired of starting over’.

‘I’m rebuilding at 38, but this time, with Jesus at the centre of it all,’ she added.

The new account marks another chapter in Rice’s extraordinary reinvention since she left Australia for Dubai in 2023, declaring she had bought a one-way ticket to begin a new life with God at the centre of it.

The Olympian admitted she was taking a risk by leaving behind her existing Instagram audience to build a new community from scratch.

‘Probably part crazy to be walking away from 140,000 people, but honestly I’d rather start again knowing the people joining now want to be a part of the story God’s writing, not the one that’s already been written, even if that’s just a small amount,’ she wrote.

Rice also offered a candid account of how she had come to reassess her relationship with success.

‘I’ve won Olympic gold. Made millions of dollars. Lost everything. Found Jesus,’ she wrote alongside a photograph of herself wearing a purple jacket and gold Dior earrings.

‘And now, at 38, I’m rebuilding my career all over again. On the outside I had it all. Don’t get me wrong. It was incredible. But somewhere along the way, I started tying my value to my success,’ she continued.

‘My confidence went up and down, depending on how I was performing, how much money I was making and what other people thought of me.’

The former swimming star said public scrutiny, hateful comments, legal battles and failed businesses had contributed to some of the most difficult periods of her life.

She credited her Christian faith with helping her through those struggles, writing that she had been exhausted from trying to turn her circumstances around when she found Jesus.

‘I surrendered it all to him and we started the most incredible journey together,’ she said.

Rice subsequently sold her possessions, packed up her life in Australia and moved to Dubai without a job, friends or a plan for what would come next.

She later secured a role as a company director, where she said she was earning more than she had in years.

‘Eight months into that role, I was offered to become a CEO, my dream position,’ she revealed, adding: ‘But God asked me to resign. I obeyed.’

The decision has left Rice facing another professional reset, despite believing her career would be further along by now.

‘It’s been one of the most testing seasons of my life, but I trust God and I’ve learned I can’t force or speed up his plans or when he opens the next door. But I can control what I do in the meantime,’ she wrote.

Rice is now using her new account to promote her business consulting services, with a focus on women who feel they have untapped potential.

She ended her post with a message of encouragement for those who might be experiencing similar setbacks.

‘You don’t lack dreams or desire, you lack the consistency and system to see it through,’ she wrote.

Rice first rose to international fame at the 2008 Beijing Olympics, where she won three gold medals, including world-record victories in the 200m and 400m individual medley.

She married Lassey, a pastor with the Kingdom Church, in January 2025, four months after he proposed.

The wedding took place at a vineyard in Lassey’s native Perth.

The couple met at the start of 2024 and got engaged in September after seven months of dating.

Mark is a father to three sons – Tyler, Joel and Luke – from a previous relationship.

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