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Michael Phelps is the greatest swimmer of all time as he holds the record for winning the highest number of Olympic gold medals with 23. Phelps retired from competitive swimming post-2016 Rio Olympics.
In the meantime, post-retirement, Phelps has been working as a mental health advocate. The swimmer himself has suffered from depression and ADHD, as he revealed in 2018.
In July 2011, Phelps was interviewed by CNN's Christine Romans. One segment of the interview was about how Phelps learned to ignore bullies.
Michael Phelps on being bullied during his childhood
Michael Phelps spoke about what he was bullied about and how he handled it, saying:
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"Ears, shaving my legs, speedo, whatever. At that time, honestly, I was upset. It got to the point where I just didn't care."
The ace swimmer replied that the bullies used to tease him about his ears and many more things. The bullying made Phelps really upset, but it came to a point where he didn't care about it anymore.
Michael Phelps added that he was happy when he stopped caring about the bullying. The GOAT Olympian continued that he had goals to accomplish in his career before he retired and he wouldn't give much thought to what people said. Phelps further said people's doubts just fired him up and provided him with more motivation.
Michael Phelps' mother spoke about him being bullied
Debbie Phelps, the mother of Michael Phelps, has also spoken about how other kids used to bully her son during his childhood. She gave an interview to Yahoo in 2012.
During the interview, she said the swimmer wore a baseball hat to hide his ears. But that didn't stop the bullies from making fun of him. Debbie further added that it was very frustrating for Michael, saying:
"I always told him to be the stronger person and walk away."
She said that her advice to him was to be a stronger person and walk away. But she recalled an incident where Michael pulled a bully and hit him. This led to him being suspended from school. She advised her son that he shouldn't do that.
Debbie added that once these events ended, Michael learned to ignore the bullying. But this time, he learned to handle the bullies in a different way. Debbie recalled an incident from 2000, when Michael was selected for the Olympic team. A bully from the swimmer's childhood came to him and congratulated him.
But Michael replied that he didn't recognize him. The bully went on to introduce himself by saying his name and his swimming club, but Phelps again replied that he definitely didn't recognize him.
After the person left, Michael explained to Debbie that the person was bullying him as an age group swimmer. She further added how her son said that he doesn't want that person to be his friend since he is an Olympian now.
After Michael Phelps retired from competitive swimming, he joined the board of Medibio in 2017. Medibio is an organization that focuses on mental health disorders.
