"They tore me down...I went through things I never wanted to": When Michael Phelps recalled his experience with treatment after becoming suicidal

Michael Phelps once revealed that he had to undergo a tough time during his initial days at the treatment center following the toughest phase of depression in 2014. The 23-time Olympic champion, however, stated that it also brought improvements in his mental health.

Phelps struggled with mental health problems and post-Olympic depression following his initial retirement from swimming after the 2012 London Olympics, where he won four golds and two silver medals. He encountered suicidal thoughts in the following years and got addicted to alcohol as well.

The 39-year-old locked himself in his room for four straight days in 2014 and was charged with driving under the influence of alcohol for the second time in September of that year, which was followed by a six-month ban from USA swimming. Phelps had come out of retirement earlier that year and the DUI arrest and swimming ban triggered the start of his recovery.

He started seeking help following the arrest and although he claimed to have undergone a tough time at the treatment center, the Baltimore Bullet felt it built him back up. Speaking in an interview with CNN in 2017, he said:

“I was kind of in a lost place so we did some research on what we could do and I went to treatment for a couple of weeks and just basically rebuilt myself. They kind of tore me down and built me back up and I went through some things that I never wanted to go through before.”

Michael Phelps later made a triumphant return at the 2016 Rio Olympics, winning a staggering five golds and one silver medals to finish as the most decorated and arguably the greatest Olympian in history.

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"I read about suicides...it scares the hell out of me" - Michael Phelps on advocating for mental health

The Match 10 - Michael Phelps in action - Source: Getty

Since retiring from the sport following the 2016 Rio Olympics, Michael Phelps has been a strong advocate for mental health and has been sharing awareness about the issues, even helping fellow US Olympian Shaun White. Explaining his increased efforts to spread awareness in an interview in 2022, Phelps said he didn't want to see someone take their own life.

"I read about suicides almost every single day. We just had two high-schoolers from a local school here that committed suicide a few weeks ago and as a dad, that scares the hell out of me.

"I just want to be able to give them the tools to understand that it's OK to talk about a struggle or a problem. From firsthand experience, I was someone who stuffed things down and compartmentalized for a large chunk of my life and that extra weight should never be on anybody's shoulders," Michael Phelps said [via Yahoo].

Alongside sharing awareness by talking on forums, the 39-year-old has been working with online therapy service Talkspace since 2018. He also released a documentary "Weight of Gold" in 2020, discussing the widespread mental health issues.