Michael Phelps on his 'unbreakable' moment
Michael Phelps, nicknamed the 'Flying Fish', is the most successful Olympian ever. Phelps retired from competitive swimming post the 2016 Rio Olympics in which he won five gold medals and one silver medal.
Since his retirement, he has been concentrating on developing his own brand of swimwear and training gear, and also works as a mental health advocate.
In a video posted on Jay Glazer's Twitter account on November 16, 2022, Glazer and Phelps interacted about the ace swimmer's unbreakable moment. The interaction was part of a podcast called Unbreakable with Jay Glazer: A Mental Health Podcast.
I sat down with 23-Time Olympic Gold Medalist @MichaelPhelps who addressed his mental health challenges including nearly taking his life, what he learned from it, & so much more. Don’t miss the full episode dropping Wednesday morning. IT’S A MUST LISTEN with a man who is 1 of 1! https://t.co/8kEeJDpbtT
Michael Phelps spoke about his hard times
Jay Glazer asked Phelps about his unbreakable moment. The Baltimore-born swimmer said:
"It's probably the moment of not wanting to be alive. I was prescribed Ambien from three different doctors monthly. I was happy I only had three pills left. It was the night of my DUI, my second one. I was like, f**k, I'm just going to take the rest of these and I hope I don't wake up."
Michael Phelps said his unbreakable moment was a moment when he didn't want to be alive. The swimmer claimed he was prescribed Ambien by three different doctors.
Phelps stated that he was happy as there were only three pills left. He said that on the night of his second DUI, he took the remaining pills and hoped he didn't wake up.
The 'Flying Fish' further added:
"And I woke up. And for three days I basically didn't leave my room. I didn't eat. I didn't drink anything. I just sat there. I was just being."
He said he woke up and didn't leave his room for three days. The Baltimore-born swimmer claimed that he didn't eat or drink anything either.
Phelps said he realized he needed to change himself.
The GOAT Olympian further claimed he could've snapped at the time but it was not like him to be snapped. Michael Phelps continued:
"Like I always think like everything happens for a reason and those moments are put in our life for that challenge, and you know those are the moments that give me the opportunity to be who I am today. And I think that's the proudest thing that I can ever look at."
The champion swimmer said he always thinks that everything happens for a reason and moments like these are put into our lives for the challenges we face. He stated that these moments give him the opportunity to be the person he is at present.
Phelps said:
"It's like we gotta think about the sh*t that we've gone through, and the hard stuff we've gone through. We always have to remember that."
The GOAT Olympian insisted we have to think about the hard times we've gone through and we've always got to remember those hard times. Despite facing some difficult times in his career that have affected his mental health, Michael Phelps overcame those and completed a massively successful stint as an Olympian.