The Real Michael Phelps: Beyond the Medals and Records | Undeniable with Joe Buck

Joe Buck sits down with Olympic Gold Medalist and swimming legend Michael Phelps. From being diagnosed with ADHD to becoming the most decorated Olympian of all time, Phelps explains why overcoming obstacles was key to his success. This is not just a tale of sports triumph but a deeply personal saga of resilience, determination, and the unyielding will to be the best.

#joebuck #michaelphelps #olympics

CHAPTERS:
0:22 – Intro to Michael Phelps
2:27 – Michael Phelps Early Life
7:06 – Absent Father Impact
9:11 – Michael Phelps Goal Setting at 12
10:38 – Influence of Phelps’ Mother
14:04 – 2004 Athens Olympics
16:55 – Phelps’ First DUI Incident
19:00 – Phelps’ Mental Compartmentalization
20:15 – Quest for 8 Gold Medals
23:30 – 4×100 Freestyle Relay Victory
25:08 – 200m Freestyle Strategy
26:44 – 200m Butterfly Triumph
28:10 – Phelps’ Recovery Journey
31:24 – Controversy: Bong Photo Scandal
34:57 – Training for 2012 Olympics
36:11 – 2012 London Olympics Highlights
36:45 – Phelps’ Second DUI
38:30 – Michael Phelps’ Darkest Moment
42:14 – Healing Through Letter Writing
45:36 – Michael Phelps and Nicole Johnson
46:28 – Future Plans for Michael Phelps

My guest tonight first stepped into the pool when he was 7 years old and by the time he was 10 had splashed his way into the National record books Michael Fred Phelps took a natural talent in the water and showed the world just how far hard work and sacrifice can take you he

Has earned a record 22 medals 18 of them gold through three different Olympics on top of that he would hold 33 World Championship medals as well but before he set 39 different world records did you know he laid out a 12-year career plan at the age of 11 was diagnosed with

ADHD as a kid and was the youngest male at 15 to set a world record tonight we’ll learn what makes this undeniable icon who he is a man who once said if you want to be the best you have to do things that other people aren’t willing

To do please welcome the most decorated Olympian of all time Michael Phelps thank you no problem uh a couple things right off the bat first of all solid move with the no socks always have to Casual you’re just not a socks guy well I mean you told me

Yesterday it was well I got told yesterday I was wearing a suit and just moved to Arizona and I didn’t bring a suit with me so I had to go and buy a suit that so that’s what you came up with and then a pinch they tailored it

In a day well that’s what happens when you’re Michael freaking Phelps what are you doing to your arm right now stretching my arm they’re stretching my what what is that I’m double jointed I guess yeah did the person who tailored that suit for you know that that was it possible they

They they made sure they made sure to put a little extra room in there [Laughter] wow Talen Maryland what was life like in to in Maryland when you were a young pup I mean I grew up playing all sorts of sports uh I play the cross baseball

Soccer and swam uh pretty much all at once so my mom took me from one field to the next to the next to the next the whole world I think fell in love with your mom Debbie uh during the Olympics but when you start diving into your

Story what a great support system for you I mean it was incredible you know I I grew up in a single uh single parent home um really from 11 on and and you know my sisters and myself sort of watched her uh work go to school make

Sure we had everything we needed and that’s really who we learned from uh and and uh you know my mom is still the closest person to me and and will always be that way at one point she said I had three different kids in three different

Pools I was going to school getting a masters was teaching eventually becomes a principal and all the while it is teaching you these lessons I mean that now you’re an adult you look back you must think well you’re an adult most of the time and you look back and you must

Think you know God she did a lot for us she did and and you know I can never thank her enough um you know I’m so thankful to to have a strong woman uh like my mom be able to put me where I am today um you know that’s that’s the

Reason I am who I am and and I act how I act um we always joke she what wasn’t the best cook but she did everything else right it’s it would always be funny we would always joke because it was like the steak would be like uh beef jerky or

You know little little overcooked but uh I guess the running joke is she always says uh if that’s the one thing I didn’t do right I guess I’m doing okay yeah you grew up with two older sisters and from what I understand it’s really because of

Them that you were even in the pool in the first place they’re the ones because because they were there that introduced you in a way to swimming my mom put us in the water for water safety that was the only reason uh and and my two older

Sisters fell in love with the sport as well and when they were working out I was running around you know sort of going crazy on the pull deck but you know I learned how to swim I didn’t want to put my face under um yeah that’s crazy so when you’re first introduced

Into it you’re about seven and you didn’t want to get your face wet or put your head under the water uh-uh I started swimming on my back so so the woman who taught me how to uh who taught me how to swim um she found a way just

To make me relaxed in the water uh and and that was by putting me on my back and I started swimming on my back and then one day I just decided to overcome the fear and put my face under and I fell in love with it and started

Swimming you around and I had a lot of energy as a kid and and uh I guess that was a way for me to get all of it out I was super super add couldn’t sit still um and I guess was it even diagnosed back then I mean I don’t know I mean

Your mom just knew you were full of energy I I took riddlin until I was in like sixth grade and then I told my mom that I didn’t want to take it anymore um I just said I would be able to focus and and um you know I fell in love with the

Sport of swimming really early and and that kind of helped me focus and you know for me my mom would always being an education um education always came first and and if that wasn’t going well then I wasn’t going to be able to swim and that

Was something that um I wanted to do and I loved so I took care of everything else out of the pool so I can make sure I could do everything in the pool I had I had a child in swimming and and I thought and she was much the same way

But staring at that black line I mean that first of all that can get you focused it can also drive you freaking nuts I mean that that can be a lonely existence in a pool during practice Yeah you know it’s it’s I used to um I guess it’s different now but I used

To sing songs I mean I used to think about a lot I used to think about what was going on outside of the pool um that was kind of my way to just sort of let everything out you know as a kid that was an

Escape you know as a kid growing up in in the household that we that I was in that was an escape from everything so it was like it was the one chance where I I didn’t have to think about anything or deal with anything or be around

Anything it was just me by myself in the pool during that time you’re going through a lot out of the pool I mean big change in your home and dealing with divorce and everything else that you had to deal with which a lot of people have

To deal with you know for me my my father was very absent through a lot of my life and and um you know for about 20 years I can probably count on one hand how many times I saw him um and that kind of hurts you know for

Me I I grew up always wanting to have a dad to have somebody you know whether it’s to throw catch or you know do this or do that and and I didn’t have it and uh you know so for me growing up I had my coach who kind of acted as a father

Figure and there was a time when you were 11 I believe that he wanted to have a meeting with your mom Debbie that’s the meeting he has with your mom to say to say this kid is different and it’s it’s time that he puts all of his energy

Into swimming right yeah it was he he said to me when I was 11 if I wanted to make the Olympic team in four years I could and for some strange reason I said okay let’s be fair at 10 you were setting records as well I mean I I

Probably I think I must have broken over 200 National age group records as a kid growing up and I was a little kid that was swimming with people that were four five six years older and older kids never let me go they wouldn’t let me go

In front of them so I had to pass them so it was like I mean there’s like five people in a 25 yard Lane and you know here I am just puttering along going in and out like weaving in and out of people and by the end of the set I’m I’m

Leading the lane and I looked up to Pablo Morales he was world record holder Olympic gold medalist professional athlete um you know I had a bunch of autographs and stuff and and I was like that’s what I want to do I mean what do I have to lose

As an 11-year-old kid I was like okay cool if I make the Olympic team in four years is great not this guy doesn’t know what he’s doing well he made you or you made you I want to ask the question who made you write down this goal sheet so

These are specific times that you laid out for yourself at 11: yeah when when I talked to Bob about this he said what you don’t know that’s on the other side of this page was the first thing you wrote was I want to win a gold medal and then you thought H maybe

That’s too much and you scratched it out turned it over and the thing was I want to make the Olympics and look at that bottom line I’ll accomplish his goals by concentrating working hard and coming to every practice it’s about right but it’s it’s really the whole entire thing that that’s

Still like the motto I live by today it’s dream plan re age you know it’s like you come up with a dream you figure out how you’re going to get there and you go for it like what’s the worst that happens you fail great get up and do it again that’s that

Easy and is that how you swim is that how you swim with regard to time as opposed to competition and other individuals and medals or whatever you’re looking at times yeah that’s it that’s the only thing that’s all you got yeah if I I mean I can win a gold medal

And not do a time and not be happy I’m hard on myself your mom set the bar High though of course I mean it’s like you know I do believe that that you know watching her work as hard as she as she did and still does

Um she has high goals for herself and and you know it’s I I kind of laugh when she when she talks about stuff that she goes through and she doesn’t get get there and I can just see the emotion and how pissed or upset she is um just sort

Of because she fell short and she did she doesn’t like that she doesn’t like failing we don’t like failing we we don’t deal with it very well she talked about a race where you didn’t win you wanted something really badly but I launched my goggles that one yeah and

She you came over to her and said she said okay you didn’t win the race but right now everybody’s watching you and how you react to not winning that race and you better act the way you want to be seen by these people wow it’s pretty powerful remember the race it was at

Talson University I lost the 200 I am and I I literally took my cap and goggles and just launched them yeah I was a stubborn little kid stubborn I went through phases in high schore I wanted to quit I didn’t want to do it anymore I wanted to go on the golf

Team that would have gone well yeah but I I I wanted to quit I didn’t want to do it anymore I didn’t want to deal with my coach I didn’t want to deal with anything and you know my mom would just say make sure you think about all

The decisions or you know all the outcomes that’s going to every outcome that is going to happen if you don’t do this and we would think about it and and when you look at the trajectory of those early years I mean here you are at 7

Afraid to put your face under the water there you are at 15 and there’s a lot going on in between there competing in an Olympics this is not like the the high school Olympics the Olympics in Sydney I mean I stepped out as a 15-year-old in Sydney where swimming is

The biggest sport I was next to next to or two lenses over from an Australian the floor was shaking from it just being so loud and so just I mean there’s so much energy in that building and I didn’t have my suit tied behind the

Blocks I there I mean there were a lot of things that went probably wrong that I could have fixed what do you mean you didn’t have your suit tied behind the my suit wasn’t tied when I dove in I didn’t didn’t tie my suit before the race is

That out of nerves is that ADHD is no CL no clue I I I I didn’t know what to do I mean I I got lucky and made the Olympic team and made the final and just went out and swam um wow that’s mindblowing but it’s you know it’s like

At that age like I guess for me just I prepared for it in a way um you know I can look back at it and say that was a big part of me being able to get to where I am uh I wanted to medal I was

Back in the water training the next day people were taking breaks and doing this and doing that and I was in the water training six months later I broke my first world record I remember sitting down with my agent Peter uh at 15 in the lawyer’s office and I looked at him and

Said I want to change the sport of swimming as a 15-year-old kid I said that’s what I want to do so you don’t don’t medal in 2000 as a 15-year-old what was your mindset in 2004 for me like in 2004 the trials I broke the world record in the 400 am my

First race in in uh Athens was the 400m and I broke the world record and won my first goal 4841 Michael Phelps about ready to get his first Olympic medal it’s going to be gold and it’s going to be a new world record one down for

Phelps you can hear Dan Hicks say there one down for Phelps it’s like okay he got the one but on to the next one what did it feel like the first time you’re on the highest platform at the Olympics getting your medal and listening to The Star Spangled Banner being played um no

It’s it’s just dreams coming true um you know it’s hard to put it into words really what what it feels like but it’s you know there’s nothing better than that there’s nothing better than Standing On Top of the metal Podium listening to your national anthem play

With your hand across your heart um and just knowing that the hard work paid off to get you there I think a story I’ll never forget is some people know it but it’s uh they had this chain link fence in between where the uh Spectators could

Pass through and see the warm down pool so it it it split us and my mom came over after the forn I am and and uh I walked over to her and I passed the metal through the chain link fence and I looked at her and said I did

It and obviously she went into a DP moment which is DP moment is she starts to cry that would be DP for Debbie phelp yes so um you know sort of having that moment where you know she was a part of you know every step and uh you know being

Able to accomplish something that you’ve put your mind to feels pretty good and that you did winning eight medals six of them gold in the 2004 Olympics and suddenly overnight Michael Phelps is a household name what what what’s that like I mean it kind of made me just

Realize things and and you know it’s like everything I do today doesn’t matter what it is people are watching everywhere um and that can really really wear somebody down for sure and you you’ve had battles with that and you’ve had public incidents couple a couple couple you you’ve had three that you’ve

Had three that everybody’s aware of and I say everybody you know most people don’t really care the world people in the world but when it’s you you feel like everybody cares people really don’t I was I’ve been in Dark Places after those after those days the first D DUI

Happens after after all the success in the Olympics 04 yeah in Athens how did that make you feel when you came back home I came back home and I was in my lawyer’s office and and uh I saw the look on my mother’s face never want to see that again I mean that

Was that’s just brutal because it’s like you know she taught you know she she never taught us to do that and she never taught us to make those mistakes and um that hurt me um and she’s an educator yeah so yeah that I mean that that

Stung uh a lot but you’re a kid yeah I mean you’re a kid and and there’s a standard that you have to be held to rightly or wrongly because now you’re this nationally known Olympic hero and eyes are on you more than they’ve ever been that that’s a lot of lot of weight

To carry around it was hard and it’s something that I guess I just kind of got used to but at at that time it was yeah I was a kid I mean I literally i’ never done anything in my life you know most of my childhood was in a bubble I

Guess it’s like I got let out of the bubble and didn’t know what to do I had no idea where to go so I was like oh I just obviously didn’t make the right choice and um luckily nobody else no one was hurt um not myself or anybody else and and

You know for me the the the thing that probably bothered me the most was just the disappointment that were on their faces um I don’t like letting people down and and you know when I think not only like I I I didn’t only let them down but in my opinion I

Let other people down I let my family down I let people who support me down um and I think that probably was one of the first times where I kind of went into I mean I went into a depression spell probably that’s probably the first time did you go through therapy for

Depression or you just kind of lugged that around yep that was you know that was part of really what I carried from really that time until a couple months ago till a couple months ago I I was really good at compartmentalizing things just shoving things away not dealing with it if

Something came up I would shut the door on it just let it build up and then then lash out I guess if that would usually be when Bob and I would go at it you know like he would say something to really tick me off

And I would say you know I’d throw a little jab back at him and that was the start of it and then we just blew up at one another and the next day I’m fine um and and you know I think growing up we had a lot of that you know I guess

It can go back to my father um you know sort of he never his father died very young and and he raised me how he was raised you know so I didn’t really know what to do where to go how to act do this or that my mom did

The best she could um but it’s like those are those are kind of times where um I need a father I needed a father I wanted a father uh didn’t have one so after this 2004 this glorious Olympics you have the DUI moving past that what’s

The drive now for the game in Beijing what’s what what is out there for you to chew up and try and accomplish going 8 for eight eight for eight eight for eight and and it’s it’s amazing I mean the record was Mark Spitz were you were you even aware really as a

Kid you’re so you’re so honestly I really I didn’t even know who he was until I was probably like 15 16 years old but then you were aware that he had won seven sure I mean that’s a it’s an iconic it’s an iconic feat at the

Olympic level I me I mean any sport really um it’s just incredible and you know back then it was it was I mean those guys he was swimming with a mustache and no goggles I mean that’s pretty impressive right jez we we do it in like high-tech suits and high-tech

Goggles and caps and all this stuff I mean seriously a mustache would literally slow you down I mean I went and he had a hell of a mustache it was like a Magnum PI I mean I you got to you got to respect a good stash that was

Good stash uh um you know it’s it it changed a lot I mean I don’t know if some of you guys saw I looked like uh I mean I had I hadn’t shaved in like I don’t know three to four months going into Nationals like I I mean it was it

Was bad it was really bad um so I went 157 in a full beard and when I shaved every my my body in my face uh I went 152 you had 5 Seconds of hair on you I guess I guess so you set this goal for yourself

To to beat the record it wasn’t to go out and break spitz’s record it was to I mean essentially was but that wasn’t what I was thinking I didn’t want to become the second Mark Spitz I wanted to become the first Michael Phelps we have this quote back on the

Wall if you want to be the best you have to do things that other people aren’t willing to do what does that quote though specifically say to you I want to be the best that I could be in the best anyone’s everever seen and I’m going to

Work as hard as I can to be able to get there you know going 365 days a year for five or six years straight you know I didn’t miss a day um that it’s a lot of sacrifice but it it’s it is but it’s also because I knew that nobody else was

Doing it so at that point if I’m getting 52 you know normal people are swimming six days a week so I’m getting 52 other days ahead of them that means birthday swimming Fourth of July swimming Christmas Christmas morning before before we open presents christm got to go

One and that was you saying somebody take me my mom took my mom or sister took me if sisters were home from school they would take me and work out but to get to eight for eight you had to win that second race as part of a team

Let’s just take a watch and your reaction says it all about how important this this relay was pretty fired up finals of the men’s 4X 100 freestyle relay the Americans have to win golden here if Phelps is to keep his hopes alive of surpassing Mark Spitz the

United States trying to hang on a second they should get the silver metal but leac is closing a little bit on Bernard can the veteran chase him down and pull off a shocker here well there’s no dep that he’s tightening up Bernard is loser to ground Here Comes leac unbelievable

At the end he’s done it the US has done it he did it did he phelps’s hopes alive what what do you mean I mean I remember being glued to the television watching the touch and and how close that was and the the time and the space that was made

Up when you say the French gave you that they screw what does that mean there his finish was awful he looked over underwater he lifted his head up he GL I mean there are a couple things like I can look at and see that I mean the guy

Just didn’t finish the race they had the race one I mean they were almost a body like the head of us going to the last 100 or going to the last 50 I mean Bernard literally just I mean it was like there was 10 pios on his back the

Last 10 meters of that race he didn’t move and now you’ve got a chance to win all eight take us through those as as as the medals are piling up as the golds are piling up as the pressure at all on you you know it was like after the first

Night 400 IM 400 fre relay down 200 free was the next day the final of that race is probably one of my greatest races of all time um just how it was swam stroke everything was just perfect the race was over at 15 m i mean I had

Almost a body length of 25 over when I swam the 200 fly blind pretty much cuz my goggles filled up with water I ended up breaking the world record by a couple 100s and I was pissed cuz I I left I left more in the

Pool you know like I I’m lucky to finish the race and win because I couldn’t see see but how do you swim and not be able to see count Strokes so you’re basically counting Strokes knowing where you’ll be by the end of the lane and where the end of the

Pool we do these things called stroke in time for butterfly so when I’m trying to work on butterfly Pace if I go 27 seconds I have to take 17 strokes but I can’t take more than five kicks so what we’re really trying to do is work on

Stroke efficiency and I’ve done that my whole entire career so I mean my first 50 is usually 16 about 16 strokes and then it’s like 17 and then I go 18 and then the last one’s usually 19 or 20 when I try to pick it up coming into the

Wall fifth metal was 800 free relay 200 IM 100 fly the seventh was the 100 fly and yeah and I was that was just the one 100th of a second I still watch it I’m just like that’s it’s not possible but it’s like but but then it’s like once I

Look at it and see the slow-mo like I can watch cavic uh finish and he kind of just botch the finish and I was able to do what I practiced to do hit the wall hard and when I took that half stroke at the at the finish of the hunterfly I

Thought that cost me the race and it ended up winning the race for me so as these metals are piling up literally you’re not thinking it’s within reach now no I I think you know the biggest thing that I was thinking of the whole entire time

Was after the race I swim down swim down into making sure I have like a power bar or some kind of bar like to put calories back into my system and at that time it was uh Carnation Instant Breakfast I would drink that right after my race because

It was protein and I put it right back into my system so I was on top of that quick recovery recovery uh after everything was done for the night I’d make sure swim down eat uh massage right into a cold tub right into a 50° ice bath for seven

Minutes yeah yeah that’s how that’s how my that’s about what I look like that first first look I had when I jumped in 50° it’s like 50 52 degrees Yeah and that what do what does that provide relases everything so prior to the race for medal number eight business as usual

Are you thinking okay we were ready and to be honest that was a race that we’ve never lost in Olympic history kind of went out and did what we always do let’s take a watch so Michael Phelps seven for seven with gold medals at these Olympics waiting to see if he will stand

Alone at Olympic history and pass Mark spit to break the world record trying to stay ahead of Sullivan and leac the hero of the 400 free relay won’t let Bounce Down at all history in Beijing for Michael THS move over Mark Spitz it didn’t sink in for a long

Time um what I with what I had accomplished that week has it fully set in probably not um more now than it ever has been um you know I kind of realize what I did um yeah I mean at some point you got to allow yourself the ability to look back

You know I I don’t look at those medals I haven’t really I’ve read that about you that you really you don’t display them they’re not out in a big trophy case in the Phelps house where are they I’m not telling you guys I’m not telling

You I’m not telling you I’m not going to steal them I just want to n they’re I mean they are they in a bank are they in a bag are they under your bed or they where are they they’re in a spot that probably only three people know where

They are they’re somewhere I’m not telling you where they are [Applause] well I mean who gives a where are they [Applause] really there there’s actually a picture I just found uh in my old house it’s uh I went up and I remember after the eighth medal

We walked off the metal Podium and we’re walking down the side of the pool and and it’s right in front of all the photographers and I mean you couldn’t get through there were so many of them it’s ridiculous so I pretty much just pushed them all out of the way I

Was like guys move out of my way like I want to get to my mother like the hell out of the way and uh I went up up and I I was hugging and kissing her and my family was there and there was a circle around me of photographers and uh an

Overhead camera took a shot of it and I have it at home but that moment was something special and and um you know we share moments like that after every meet and you know just without that support every day no matter what it wouldn’t have been possible and and uh you know

My mom’s the best after that 2008 Olympics is when the picture the second one came out yeah that’s that’s when the picture of you and the bong yeah hit the world a couple things happened with with the bong picture to me first of all what really

Doesn’t sit well with me is that there was a real hardcore violation of you and what you were doing sure in your private time yeah for whatever mistake you made I would more blame the person and think the person’s lower on the totem pole for turning that

Picture in and from what I know from talking to people close to you you know who that person is there were there were six people in that house and one person that I didn’t really know is the one I know who it is I know his

Name what can I do I was told that you were told by your lawyer I can make that person’s life a living hell and you said no that kids got to look at himself in the mirror every day and you know I mean karma’s a you know and and you know it’s

Like you know for me for me it’s like yeah it’s yeah I messed up and and I made a choice to do that nobody twisted my arm or did anything or this and that I I put myself in that position and somebody took a picture

There I mean you know and and you know the thing for me it’s like I understand you know for me doing what I’ve done I’ve essentially written away privacy you know there are certain places where I can be where I can be left alone and you know that’s why my

Fiance my my my fiance and I we’re home bodies because we want to be left alone you know we want to be able to to sit and watch a movie and not have anybody you know jump in or here or there you know for like I mean this morning like

We went out to a restaurant and after I ate people came up and asked for a picture that’s no problem but while I’m eating I want to be left alone you know so there are certain things in my life that I always have to do and and and that’s one thing that

When when we’re out in public that we make sure that if we’re eating we’re eating and we’re engaged with one another um or or you know like I said I don’t I don’t leave my house very often I I just want to be isn’t that a shame

Though it is but it you know it’s it you know like I said it’s the way of life nowadays it’s it’s what it’s what this world is you know it’s it’s like you know sometimes yeah it’d be cool to you know we do go to movies from time to

Time but whatever I mean I go to Alor and play golf you know you know you know I get away there are certain places that we go where we can be left alone and and you know we can be normal people because that’s that’s what I am I’m a I’m a

Normal person I’m a normal person who except for this [Laughter] thing but I’m a normal person just like everybody else in here I I I happened to to be good at swimming and and I found it at a young age and I became very passionate about it and I just chased my

Goals that’s really it and sure they got me to where I am and you know it’s great but I’m just like you guys you know I like to sleep I like to go and have a nice meal I like to watch a movie like I like to eat candy like whatever like

Whatever it is like I’m I’m normal you know like and and I look at myself that way it’s just I just found something that that I guess I’m decent at where was your training after that leading and it’s a long lead in to 12 to 12 training what train what training you didn’t

Train oh my gosh training between 08 and 12 was a joke uh after 08 I probably gain about 20 PBS quick quick quick quick I mean there were phases where I would swim for a week and then I would disappear for a week or two I I just say

I’m not coming I mean I just whether it was me just skipping workout because I wanted to play golf or wanted to travel and just be a kid um do you feel like you missed out on on some of the kids stuff um you asked me that today and I can

Say whatever you would have asked me that three two probably a year or two ago I would have said yeah um because it’s just like the stuff that that that my friends did as kids or like I mean yeah they did it and they have different lives than I

Do so would I ever trade my life for anything no um not even moments in my life because they’ve all made me stronger and they’ve all made me a better person how would you characterize the 2012 Olympics for you in London I’ve had two races in my Olympic career that

I haven’t medled my first one and the 400 I am in London um Bob and I talk about that so many times I it’s like I didn’t swim it the way I wanted to or prelims I shouldn’t I just shouldn’t have I shouldn’t have been in

That final I didn’t deserve to be in that final um because of what into that you weren’t ready I didn’t work no I didn’t work that race and even though you weren’t at your best you won four gold medals in London and then another DUI I know from people close to you

Whether it’s Bob your coach or friends that we have in common that that second DUI has changed your life and may have been one of the most important things to ever happen to you sure um you know I remember I mean literally I was talking to Nicole that night when

I was coming home I was like okay I’m almost home instantly uh I knew it when the car when the car came that close to my uh my tail that I was getting pulled over um I didn’t even say anything just got out and did what I you know did everything and I

Sat in the car and I just literally I felt just terrible I didn’t leave my room for like 5 days didn’t eat didn’t want to talk to anybody if you want if you if you were trying to communicate with me texting was the only way my TV wasn’t working in

The room I me I just sat there I was crying I was pissed didn’t want to be alive I mean there’s so many things going on in my head you didn’t want to be alive I mean to me it was just like I just continue to let people

Down and I mean I remember texting Peter my agent I was like the world just be a better place without me didn’t know how I would do it um but I just didn’t want to be here anymore did it get close no it just thought it was in your mind yeah it was

Just in my mind uh I mean that was the lowest I’ve ever been I mean I was I was on a downward spiral I was skipping floors I I was going down so fast um I pushed everybody away what changed for you after that I was I was in a

Uh in an apartment building in DC outside of DC with my agent my publicist my lawyers just figuring out everything how’d you go about figuring that out uh I went to a treatment center um and uh I mean that’s probably the most afraid I’ve ever

Been so what we did was we flew private so nobody knew where I was nobody knew where I was going nobody saw me land anything and I got off the plane and got into the car and I started just shaking shaking Shing cuz I was so terrified um I remember sending that

Text to my mother I never got a response back which what text I’m afraid I was like I’m afraid for the first time in my life um so I I check in I get into the treatment center and uh phone goes in computer goes in take

Everything no but like I had like cross word puzzles they took those you know like I had candy they took that um gum because it had sugar in it can’t have that uh I went I went to dinner that night didn’t want to talk to anybody there’s an American flag in the

In the cafeteria and I stared at the American flag with my back towards everybody I didn’t want to be there I didn’t want to talk to anybody I wanted to be left alone the first thing every morning they wake up at 6 o’clock in the morning and

They have this chart on the wall feelings check feelings check like the eight basic like emotions or feelings whatever they’re like how do you feel this morning it’s six o’clock in the morning I was like how do you think I feel like seriously uh I was just I mean I was

Just pissed so you you were fighting the process yeah and then it was the first or second night there and uh watching Monday Night Football in the ESPN and uh kid swimming I’m on a commercial break comes on TV and it’s ESP BN reporting that I had been suspended for

6 months and not competing at World Championships like 15 people just turned over and looked at me and I was like yes that’s me yes um so that that was kind of that was kind of awkward did you get a chuckle at all out of that people left okay good um

I mean and I think one thing that kind of sucked too is that’s kind of the first the first time that I had really found out that I wasn’t I wasn’t going to be competing in Worlds you didn’t know that you were suspended for that

Length of time or I knew I was suspended but not I knew I was getting suspended but not eligible for the world I didn’t know that until you were sitting there in a rehab facility and saw it on TV oh cool I was like all right well I’m not

I’m not going to Worlds but then a couple days into it I was like you know what I’m here I’m taking it with open arms and and you know I was I was pretty much the first one into every meeting I was the first one into group therapy I

Was the first one into you know first one into the gym gym in the morning at 5:00 you know like I was I was focused I read every night I I tried to unload all of the stuff that had built up inside of me for so many years and I was like I’m

Just going to take this thing head on and see what happens one of the first days my therapist really went at me he we were explaining everything and I was always told I was supposed to be to bring the family back together baby cuz I’m so much younger than my sisters so I

Said that to my who whoa whoa whoa I mean I you’re five just because you’re 5 years younger you carried around with you the burden of being I didn’t think about the person or the object that was going to bring your mom and dad back together I mean that that’s an

Impossible ask of a child it’s crazy who told you that I don’t even remember I don’t even remember where it came from but it but it laid in there oh for sure um so what I did was I wrote a letter to my father expressing feelings or wrote a letter to my

Mother and I wrote a wrote a letter with my left hand to my inner child and and the cool thing that that I remembered about my inner child was standing in the backyard of my old house on chest speak Avenue uh and I could still picture him today and and um

Therapist goes what would you want to do I said I would just go over and hug him because that was the kid that didn’t care about what anybody else thought about them they were themselves and you know I found myself one day um one day after that I was like you know

What I was like why did I do that why did I change who I really am you know I I don’t know if I was somebody different because of what I’ve done but I think right then and there is when I just started showing more of really who

I am and not caring you know just sort of being completely open I think the world is starting to see really who I am and not who I’ve just shown who I was you know I’m I’m I’m this is the real Michael Phelps when you’re able to sort of get

Things out into the open and talk talk to people about things or talk to you know for me to talk to my father about things like that kind of lifted a lot off my shoulder and and I’m to the point now where it’s like my father’s becoming

My friend again and I think you know for me that’s that’s what I’ve always wanted and I think that’s something that that I’m very thankful for that I’ve been able to go through over the last year your fiance who’s backstage has been such a gift uh Nicole and I have been on and

Off for eight years uh last July this past July eight years on enough and and uh uh after the second time we took a long time off long time apart didn’t talk and and uh you know I always said if I ever had the chance to have her

Back in my life that that would be the woman that I marry and spend the rest of my life with and uh um we recently got engaged in February and planning a wedding is really fun guys great um but but you know for for her and I

The amount of stuff that we’ve gone through both personally publicly um we’re so much stronger now and we’re so much better now uh this is the best we’ve ever been and and uh honey you’re going to be pissed I’m saying this but I’m saying it uh we have this competition every morning that

Whoever gets up first and says it to the other person first they get to say it for the rest of the day so um I’m usually really good at it she doesn’t get me that often but uh I usually wake up and just say I love

You more she beat me today and it really bothers me um so you know it’s like you know like if I when I say I love you she has the privilege of one-upping me until the next morning when we wake up and then it’s kind of like a little contest we

Have so uh she don’t lose that no u i mean i i AB I love her to death and and uh you know it’s it’s uh we’re just perfect together I think so Michael what’s next know my mom said she wanted to see me in Rio again she wanted

Wanted she wanted me to go another four years and see me in Rio uh and I actually want to go you know that’s why I came back and and you know the after you know saying to her I said to her I was like we’re back I was like

We are we are in a good position uh and I can say that for the first time since 20 2008 like this summer like before Nationals like I went to Nationals I I I was like jittery because I was so excited to swim because I knew for the first time in seven years

I was finally prepared again I was ready to swim fast and I wanted to just unleash all right here’s how we end it these are five questions I’ve never seen they’re fun questions they’re not written by me I’ve not looked at them until I crack this seal open let’s

Go do I get to see them no you get to answer them all right would you rather have to sew all your own clothes or grow your own food grow my own food I’m with you would you rather only sweat eggnog or only cry spaghetti sauce what who makes just answer the

Question I’m sending these to kasas for the next Olympic oh jeez uh sweat eggnog sweat eggnog yeah what would you rather do on that one uh I think sweat eggnog cry spaghetti just seems messy that’s like that I mean and lately I’ve been more emotional so I don’t know

If I would like that now that you’re in touch with yeah in Michael yeah I know would you rather have a photographic memory I have one of those or go ahead or gain an extra 40 IQ points I mean obviously it’s the because you already have the other I have the

Other one so you get the 40 I good Best of Both Worlds would you rather babysit a nonstop crying infant for a day or have an un wanted house guest for a week uh I’d take the unwanted house guest cuz I can deal with that I can

Just close them off now you just shut them shut yourself off yeah I just I just yeah I can get rid of him that that’s not that’s not Challen I’ve had that before it’s not but you’d put up with that for a week instead of one bad day with a kid yeah dude

Dude I mean does Cole know you feel this way 24 hours like if we have a kid if we have a kid is not going to cry for 24 hours it’s going to be happy for some of them I mean come on we’re sleeping yeah fair enough would you rather be able to

See into your own future with a 50% accuracy rate or other people’s with a 100% accuracy rate I I can’t even wrap my mind around that question read that again I think other people’s 100% accuracy into the future yes so you could know what Nicole will be doing 20 years from now yeah

Hopefully we come up with some cool idea yeah it Market something cocktail umbrellas uh I I’ve known you for couple years yeah a couple years um I I never expected to have you or any guest be this open and uh your honesty is is much appreciated and uh I thank you for being

A guest here on undeniable it’s my pleasure Michael [Applause] Phelps