"It was just painful" - When Michael Phelps opened up about eating forcibly to prepare for last Olympics after severe depression

Michael Phelps once revealed that he forced himself to eat while preparing for his comeback at the 2016 Rio Olympics. The American swimmer was coming off a phase of severe depression and alcohol addiction.

Phelps had retired as the most decorated swimmer and Olympian in history following the 2012 London Olympics before finding himself struggling with depression. He began experiencing suicidal thoughts and got into severe alcohol addiction as well.

The 23-time Olympic champion faced two DUI arrests before getting back on track. He came out of retirement afterwards for one last shot at the Olympic glory but found it extremely hard to get back into the shape.

Speaking about his struggles in an interview with CNN in 2017, Phelps revealed that he used to eat forcibly to follow his diet, and at one point, he lowered his body fat percentage to an extreme 4.5%.

“I knew I had to get myself in the best physical shape I could, especially at the age of 31," Michael Phelps said. "For me that was eating or sleeping right, doing every little ABC to make sure I was as prepared for every single workout as I could."

“Eating became a job. There are days when you’re tired and you don’t want to eat but you have to, you’re forcing yourself to eat and it was just painful. I got down to four-and-a-half percent body fat. I mean, it’s basically like skating on thin ice – any lower than that is unhealthy."

Despite all the obstacles, Phelps put up yet another dominant performance at the 2016 Rio Olympics and signed off with six medals, including five golds. His record of 28 Olympic medals is still one of the greatest achievements in the sports world and is likely to stand the test of time.

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Michael Phelps came short of his expectations at the 2016 Rio Olympics

Michael Phelps at DJ Khaled's We The Best Golf Tournament - Source: Getty

While winning six Olympic medals in a career is an incredible achievement for most, Michael Phelps wasn't satisfied even after winning six at a single edition of the Games in 2014. Speaking during the aforementioned interview with CNN, the Baltimore Bullet said he wanted to finish his career with 40 world records but couldn't break the last one at the 2016 Rio Olympics.

“I’m always hard on myself. I mean I saw the replay of the 200m (individual medley) this morning and they’re like ‘It was amazing’ and I was like, ‘Yeah, still didn’t break the world record.’

“That was that one thing I wanted – I wanted to break one more world record. I wanted to go out with 40 world records and that would have been awesome," he said.

Phelps only holds two of his 39 world records in 2025, and both of them are in the relay events. His last individual world record in the 400m IM was broken by France's Leon Marchand, who is trained by the American's former coach Bob Bowman.