{"id":203263,"date":"2016-05-15T17:38:42","date_gmt":"2016-05-16T00:38:42","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.swimmingworldmagazine.com\/news\/?p=203263"},"modified":"2016-05-15T17:38:42","modified_gmt":"2016-05-16T00:38:42","slug":"michael-phelps-discusses-childhood-fatherhood-and-more-on-matt-lauers-on-assignment","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.swimmingworldmagazine.com\/news\/michael-phelps-discusses-childhood-fatherhood-and-more-on-matt-lauers-on-assignment\/","title":{"rendered":"Michael Phelps Discusses Childhood, Fatherhood, And More On Matt Lauer\u2019s \u201cOn Assignment\u201d"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Olympic legend and new father <\/span><b>Michael Phelps <\/b><a href=\"http:\/\/bit.ly\/23LjxCj\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">was featured with <\/span><b>Matt Lauer\u2019s<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> \u201cOn Assignment\u201d Sunday night<\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">, opening up to the journalist about his relationship with his father, the inner demons he\u2019s battled over the last years, and his experience becoming a new father himself.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><b>Matt Lauer<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> joined him on the side of the pool at Arizona State, where <\/span><b>Phelps <\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">is currently training for what will be his fifth Olympic Games. Throughout the interview, <\/span><b>Phelps <\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">divulged about his much publicized personal troubles following the London 2012 Olympics. When <\/span><b>Lauer <\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">questions <\/span><b>Phelps <\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">about his preparation for those Games, the 18-time Olympic gold medalist was brutally honest about how strong his frustration with the sport had become. He explains that after the 2012 Olympics, he was done with swimming. \u201cI went in with no self-confidence, no self-love,\u201d the Olympian says. \u201cI thought of myself as just a swimmer, and nobody else.\u201d <\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">On top of that, his relationship with mentor and coach <\/span><b>Bob Bowman<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> had reached a toxic level. Asked if he thought Phelps would quit prior to London, <\/span><b>Bowman <\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">responded that questioned whether his charge would make even it to the Games, going so far to say that he had hoped at times that <\/span><b>Phelps<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> would just throw in the towel. <\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Following London, <\/span><b>Phelps <\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">struggled to find fulfillment in life, saying he was pushing people out of his life and refusing to deal with his own inner demons. That culminated on September 29, 2014, when he was pulled over and arrested for drunk driving, what he called a cry for help. Calling that the lowest point in his life, he secluded himself in his own house for four days before friends and family encouraged him to check into the Meadows, a rehab clinic in Arizona. <\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">There, <\/span><b>Phelps <\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">says, he was forced to confront something that he had been avoiding his whole life: his relationship with his father. Telling <\/span><b>Lauer <\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">he realized he had feelings of abandonment and avoidance related to their relationship, <\/span><b>Phelps <\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">said that the breakthrough happened when his father came to visit him in Arizona. There, he says, they had the best conversation in over twenty years and began to heal their relationship. <\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Speaking about his own impending fatherhood (<\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/www.swimmingworldmagazine.com\/news\/michael-phelps-nicole-johnson-welcome-baby-boomer-robert-phelps\/\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">the interview was taped prior to the birth of his son, Boomer Robert Phelps<\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">), <\/span><b>Phelps <\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">admitted he was nervous about how to handle his new responsibilities, but was also confident it would be one of the greatest experiences of his life. <\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Ending the interview by looking toward Rio, <\/span><b>Bowman<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> states that compared to 2012, <\/span><b>Phelps<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> is a completely different person physically, mentally, and emotionally. As usual, the Olympian didn\u2019t reveal his goals for the 2016 Rio Olympics, telling <\/span><b>Lauer <\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">\u201cnot to waste a question\u201d asking him. For the record, <\/span><b>Phelps <\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">does have the opportunity to become the first male swimmer to win four consecutive gold medals in the same event, as well as become the oldest male Olympic gold medalist in swimming.<\/span> <span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">But regardless of the outcome, he reveals that he\u2019ll be satisfied of the outcome because he\u2019s enjoying the process. \u201cI\u2019m giving an honest effort. I\u2019m having fun again,\u201d he said. \u201cAnd this is something I haven\u2019t had in a really long time.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Olympic legend and new father Michael Phelps was featured with Matt Lauer\u2019s \u201cOn Assignment\u201d Sunday night, opening up to the journalist about his relationship with his father, the inner demons<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":58,"featured_media":196149,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":false,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"dois","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[3],"tags":[32750,57696,10818,57666,43165,6302,57695,24848,48679],"class_list":["post-203263","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-featured","tag-2016-olympic-games","tag-2016-rio-games","tag-bob-bowman","tag-boomer-robert-phelps","tag-matt-lauer","tag-michael-phelps","tag-on-assignment","tag-phelps","tag-rio-olympics"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"yoast_head":"<!-- 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