Michael Phelps: ‘I am extremely thankful that I did not take my life’

Story highlights Swimmer Michael Phelps said he hit his lowest after 2012 Olympic Games The Michael Phelps Foundation incorporates stress management into children's programming CNN — Far from the familiar waters of an Olympic pool, swimmer Michael Phelps shared the story of his personal encounter with depression at a mental health conference in Chicago this week. The ‘easy’ part Asked what it takes to become a champion, Phelps, 32, immediately replied, “I think that part is pretty easy – it’s hard work, dedication, not giving up.” Pressed for more details, the Baltimore native described the moment his coach told his parents he could become an Olympian and he recalled the taste of defeat when losing a race by “less than half a second” at his first Olympics in Sydney in 2000, which meant returning home without a medal. Once he began to talk about his feelings, “life became easy.” Phelps told Axelrod, “I said to myself so many times, ‘Why didn’t I do this 10 years ago?’ But, I wasn’t ready.” “I was very good at compartmentalizing things and stuffing things away that I didn’t want to talk about, I didn’t want to deal with, I didn’t want to bring up – I just never ever wanted to see those things,” said Phelps. Today he understands that “it’s OK to not be OK” and that mental illness “has a stigma around it and that’s something we still deal with every day,” said Phelps. “That’s the reason why suicide rates are going up – people are afraid to talk and open up,” said Phelps.