Michael Phelps Says Wife Helped Him Through Mental Health Struggles

“I was so down on myself,” he said at the time. “”I didn’t have any self-love and quite honestly, I just didn’t want to be alive. I didn’t want to see anybody, because for me, I saw myself as letting so many people down and me, myself in particular, and that’s hard to carry.” 

He continued, “I never asked for help, really, ever in my career, and that was the first time that I really did that.”

In his recent interview with Today, Michael explained a practice he shares with his kids called the “lion’s breath” where he takes in a deep breath and lets out a loud sigh that releases the negative energy he may be holding.

“There are still days where I don’t feel like me,” he told Today. “My depression and anxiety aren’t going to just disappear.”