- - TikToker Leans on Boyfriend's Best Friend After His Death. 1 Year Later, She Risks 'Losing Everything' with a Confession (Exclusive)

Lizzie HymanAugust 28, 2025 at 12:00 PM

Kaitlin Reagan

Kaitlin Reagan and Mirko Mormile -

Kaitlin Reagan and Mirko Mormile have shared their grief journey on TikTok following the death of their boyfriend and best friend, Francesco LoPresti, who died in 2022 at age 24

Over the years, the pair had been each other's closest confidants and eventually began to develop feelings for one another

Despite not having everyone's approval, Reagan and Mormile told PEOPLE they feel confident that LoPresti would be "so happy" to see them happy

There was no big announcement to Kaitlin Reagan’s 3.4 million TikTok followers when she and Mirko Mormile officially started dating in April. In truth, there was only one person they both wished they could talk to about it.

Francesco LoPresti — Reagan’s boyfriend and Mormile’s best friend — died in 2022 at age 24 from cancer. Since then, Reagan, 28, and Mormile, 26, have shared their grief journey online, slowly building a bond neither of them expected.

“After Francesco passed away, I think everybody wanted to grieve by not talking about it,” Reagan tells PEOPLE. “We’re the type of people who need to talk about it. We were grieving in the same way, and it was rare to find.”

Mormile adds, “I felt like this was going to destroy my whole life, and I couldn’t pretend it didn’t happen. We didn’t have any other option but to heal through it.”

Despite being each other’s closest confidants now, their relationship didn’t start off smoothly.

“The first time I met Mirko was when Francesco and I went on our first date,” Reagan recalls. “Francesco was scared to go alone, so he showed up to Dunkin’ Donuts and was like, ‘This is my friend,’ and I was like, ‘Why is he here?’ He didn’t look happy to be there, let’s put it that way. He was standoffish. I was like, ‘Hello? Do you speak words?’”

Kaitlin Reagan

(L-R) Mirko Mormile, Francesco LoPresti and Kaitlin Reagan

Their early interactions were strained, and Mormile admits he “wasn’t the biggest fan” of Reagan.

“I was a little bit jealous. We were like 12 or 13 and all of a sudden, I couldn’t reach my friend anymore,” he says. “But then I went through a breakup, and Francesco told me to talk to Kaitlin. I didn’t want to, but she gave me a lot of good advice, and I realized that this is a really good person who I didn’t really take the time to get to know.”

Following Francesco’s death, Reagan and Mormile found themselves leaning on each other in ways they hadn’t anticipated.

“We spent a lot of time together on our healing journey,” Reagan explains. “It’s hard to show up for other people when you’re trying to show up for yourself, but we really cared to see each other do better.”

Mormile encouraged Reagan to return to TikTok, where she and Francesco had documented his cancer journey.

“He never wanted to be forgotten,” she explains. Mormile also helped her grow: “He said, ‘We’re going to heal together. We’re going to buy every self-help and grief book.’ I’m dyslexic, so he would read them to me and also encouraged me to practice.”

It was during one of those reading sessions that deeper feelings began to surface. “In the process of being so cared about and taken care of so naturally, I was kind of like, ‘Oh God, I might like him and this is not good,’” Reagan says. “Francesco would always say, ‘You just don't know him. But there's a reason I love him so much.’ And I remember sitting there one day and saying, ‘Oh, this was what he meant.’”

Mormile admits he had quiet feelings, too. “There were a lot of times that we were together, and at the end of the night, I'd sit in my car and I'd be thinking, ‘Was she flirting with me there?’ But I just felt like my role was supposed to be to feel these things, but just kind of keep it to myself and not ever talk about it or not ever act on it. And there's a real possibility that if she never came to me and communicated, I might've just done that.”

Reagan confessed her feelings a year and a half ago, knowing she risked “losing everything.” They both tried to deny what they felt. “We were still grieving this person, but now also trying to deny these feelings,” she says. “It was just a mess. Our first instinct was guilt. We would take days or weeks apart and would go on dates with other people.”

Kaitlin Reagan

Mirko Mormile and Kaitlin Reagan

With the help of therapy and encouragement from fans on TikTok who suggested they consider giving each other a chance, the pair decided to take the leap in April.

“I was like, ‘I don’t think I can walk away from this without saying I tried,’” Reagan says. “Then it was the question of do we tell everyone? Do we tell Francesco’s family? Do we tell our own families? And we realized if we’re going to give this a real shot, that means not hiding it from the world. So we told everyone in June.”

The public response was mixed. While many fans were supportive, not everyone in their lives understood. “One of my biggest concerns was people thinking, ‘If he feels this way now, he was most likely always feeling this way,’” Mormile explains.

Reagan adds, “He’s being brave, but it’s something that eats him up at night. He’s been so strong about it, but it hurts that the people closest to him have shunned him out.”

“You can only do so much to change people’s minds,” Mormile says. “The entire start of this whole thing was because I saw her hurting and felt like Francesco wouldn't want me to just leave her out here to the wolves. There are people that feel like this is disrespectful… I just stand firm in knowing that that couldn't be further from the truth.”

Kaitlin Reagan

Kaitlin Reagan and Mirko Mormile

While they’ll never know for sure how LoPresti would feel, they like to think he’d be happy. “The worst case is that he would hate us, but I think he’d be really happy,” Reagan says. “Before he passed, he told me, ‘I know it’s not going to be me, I wish it was, but I’m going to custom-make the person.’ I feel like he would be so happy to know that this person takes care of me, respects me and also respects him… We love talking about Francesco. And I think that’s the best-case scenario.”

Mormile adds, “Everything we went through and conquered together, we've become very confident in the fact that if he is watching over us, if there is a heaven, he’d be happy.”

Now that their relationship is public, they’re focused on what’s next — both individually and together. “I'm having my first live show on October 2nd at City Winery,” Reagan shares. “I've always wanted to do live shows and have these conversations in real life, so I'm just so excited.” Mormile adds, “It just feels like it's such a long time coming. I'm so proud of her. ”

While grief may always be part of their story, Reagan and Mormile are choosing to grow through it together. “We both spent so much time trying to live for everybody else and trying to think about everybody else's feelings,” Mormile says. “We both just really want to focus on living for ourselves and watering this relationship.” Reagan adds, “What's exciting is really embodying this new relationship, owning it and being okay with people not being okay with it. We’re finally being ourselves authentically.”

on People

Original Article on Source

Source: “AOL AOL Lifestyle”