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{"id":160411,"date":"2015-11-10T08:36:51","date_gmt":"2015-11-10T15:36:51","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.swimmingworldmagazine.com\/news\/?p=160411"},"modified":"2015-11-10T08:38:59","modified_gmt":"2015-11-10T15:38:59","slug":"michael-phelps-graces-sports-illustrated-cover-i-was-in-a-really-dark-place","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.swimmingworldmagazine.com\/news\/michael-phelps-graces-sports-illustrated-cover-i-was-in-a-really-dark-place\/","title":{"rendered":"Michael Phelps Graces Sports Illustrated Cover: \u201cI Was In a Really Dark Place\u201d"},"content":{"rendered":"

Michael Phelps<\/strong> gives his most candid interview in his long career for the new issue of Sports Illustrated<\/i>, talking about the demons that plagued him during his brief time away from the pool that ultimately led to a DUI arrest in 2014.<\/p>\n

The article by Tim Layden<\/strong> offers some insight into the day Phelps was arrested for driving under the influence of alcohol<\/a> on Sept. 30, 2014, talking with Phelps\u2019 family and close friends.<\/p>\n

\u201cHonestly, I thought the way he was going, he was going to kill himself,\u201d Phelps\u2019 longtime coach Bob Bowman<\/strong> said in the article. \u201cNot take his own life, but something like the DUI.\u201d<\/p>\n

Layden writes of Phelps feeling shattered after the DUI, not leaving his Baltimore home for four days.<\/p>\n

\u201cI was in a really dark place,\u201d Phelps said. \u201cNot wanting to be alive anymore.\u201d<\/p>\n

That led to a 45-day stint in rehab in Arizona, which Phelps said made him \u201cthe most afraid I\u2019ve ever felt in my life.\u201d<\/p>\n

Things turned around for Phelps after that. He got back into training last fall, despite withdrawing from the world championship team. He proposed to longtime girlfriend Nicole Johnson<\/strong><\/a>, and began to show signs of a rejuvenated Phelps.<\/p>\n

Layden\u2019s article, presented in an abbreviated version in the print edition of Sports Illustrated<\/i> but available in full online<\/a>, takes readers back to Phelps\u2019 life after he won eight gold medals at the Beijing Olympics. Phelps was undisciplined after that hefty week in China, unwilling to continue the training needed to stay at a top level. Alcohol and gambling entered his life. He finished fourth in the 400 IM at the London Olympics but still managed to become the winningest Olympian of all time with 22 gold medals over three Games.<\/p>\n

The article also details Phelps\u2019 transformation during his time in rehab late last year, when he \u201cwound up uncovering a lot of things about myself that I probably knew, but I didn\u2019t want to approach.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"