"Why am I not the best?”- Michael Phelps' wife opens up about handling the pressure of their sons living up to the swimmer's name

Ace swimmer Michael Phelps' wife, Nicole Phelps, has revealed how they handle the pressure of their sons maintaining their father's legacy. Phelps and his wife have four children together.

Nicole recently appeared on the 'Between Us Moms' podcast, answering questions surrounding the ins and outs of raising their kids. She was asked how she tackles the pressure of his children living up to their father's name.

Opening up about this, she revealed that their first son, Boomer Phelps, wants to be a soccer player, adding that they have already started to navigate him through the understanding of the pressure.

"Boomer wishes to be a professional soccer player, and I hope that if that's what he wants to continue to do, that's where he lands. With that, both Michael and I recognize the amount of pressure that will come with it, and we hope to kind of wade those waters with him today and teach him, versus waiting until he's 16 years old, and it's like, my dad's Michael Phelps, why am I not the best? So it's, how can we make you, not make you, how can we help you become the best over these next few years versus you will be the best," said Michael Phelps' wife (31:05 onwards).

The swimmer and his wife first met in 2000, and after dating on and off for several years, they got engaged in 2015. They got married in June 2016, and one month ahead of the wedding, they welcomed their first son on May 5, 2016. They have three more sons together - Beckett, Maverick, and Nico Phelps.

When Michael Phelps opened up about the struggles of parenting his first son

Amercian Olympic swimmer Phelps - Source: Getty

In an interview with Pop Sugar in 2017, Michael Phelps opened up about the hardships he faced while parenting his first kid, Boomer. He said that although he loved parenthood, he ran out of patience at times. Revealing the conversations he had with his wife then, he said:

"For me, I run out of patience here and there. You don't really know what you're doing. I ask Nicole, 'What do I do?' and she's like, 'I don't know.'"

He further revealed that he eventually understood that parenting for the first time was something to handle together with Nicole, adding that taking all the steps would help Boomer grow.

"I think it's just going through the process together, doing things day by day that are going to help Boomer grow up into hopefully a very nice young man. It's both of us. Every day is different, and every day brings something more exciting, like being able to see his personality come out more and more," he added.

Michael Phelps had an illustrious career in swimming, having won 28 Olympic medals, including 23 gold, three silver, and two bronze.