Michael Phelps
Michael Phelps winning the gold medal in the men’s 100m butterfly final at the Aquatic Centre at Olympic Park during the London 2012 Olympic Games on Aug. 3, 2012.
Tim Clayton/Corbis via Getty
The champion Olympic swimmer is a prominent advocate for mental health, frequently sharing his struggles with anxiety and depression.
“Therapy saved my life,” Phelps declared in a 2022 interview with PEOPLE, detailing the events following his second drunk driving arrest in 2014 that led him to a dark place at the height of his career. “It was the lowest point that I have been to so far — I felt like I didn’t want to be alive.”
He continued, “At that moment, I felt like the best thing for me to do was just to end my life because I was causing other people so much pain — myself included. That’s when I really decided that I needed help.”
The 23-time Olympic gold medalist decided to take care of himself in a way he never had before.
“I checked myself into a treatment center, and afterward, I continued to see a therapist because I saw how much it helped me lower my shoulders,” he shared. “It helped me feel comfortable in my own skin, to be my authentic self.”
Reflecting on his experience in therapy, Phelps told PEOPLE in May 2023: “Coming out and really talking about in 2014 when I was looking suicide in the eye, it took me becoming vulnerable to have a chance at this thing called life.”
He added, “I didn’t know what therapy was going to do or not do for me, but I just got to the point where I said, ‘I don’t care what it feels like or what people say — I want to feel better,’ and I’m somebody that, if there’s one hundred different roads that I can take, I’m going to try every single one of them.”
Chloe Kim
Olympic snowboarder Chloe Kim.
Dean Blotto Gray
In January 2022, Chloe Kim recounted her experience returning home and embarking on a media tour after taking the gold medal in the halfpipe at the 2018 Winter Olympics. She revealed that she dumped the medal in a trash bin at her parent’s house after the Games.
“I hated life,” she told TIME, explaining that she felt like she couldn’t even go to restaurants in her own community after her success on the world stage without being approached.
She continued, “It makes you angry. I just wanted a day where I was left alone. And it’s impossible. And I appreciate that everyone loves and supports me, but I just wish people could understand what I was going through up to that point.”
The Olympic snowboarder recalled: “Everyone was like, ‘I just met her, and she’s such a bitch.’ I’m not a bitch. I just had the most exhausting two months of my life, and the minute I get home, I’m getting hassled. I just want to get my f—— ham and cheese sandwich and go.”
Kim has since found resources to help her work through the challenges of life as an elite athlete, including therapy, which she described to TIME as “freeing.”
“Just being able to let those things out that you just tuck in your little secret part of your heart helps a lot … I feel much more at peace now,” she said.
The pro athlete later announced in April 2022 that she’d be taking a “break” from snowboarding through 2023 to prioritize her mental health.
“(I) just want to kind of reset. (I) don’t want to get right back into it after such a fun but draining year at the same time, knowing that it was an Olympic year,” Kim told Cheddar News in 2022. “I just want to enjoy this moment, take it all in and then get back to it when I’m feeling ready, but as of now, the plan is most definitely to go after a third medal.”
Simone Biles
Simone Biles during artistic gymnastics podium training at the Ariake Gymnastics Centre in preparation for the Tokyo 2020 Olympic Games on July 22, 2021.
Tim Clayton/Corbis via Getty Images
On July 27, 2021, Biles withdrew from the gymnastics team finals at the Tokyo Olympics, revealing that she was struggling with her mental health.
When asked about her decision to withdraw, Biles told reporters: “You usually don’t hear me say things like that because I’ll usually persevere and push through things, but not to cost the team a medal. So they were like, ‘Okay, well, if Simone says this, then we need to take it pretty serious.’ I had the correct people around me to do that.”
“Today has been really stressful. We had to work out this morning and it went okay. And then just that five-and-a-half-hour wait or something, I was just, like, shaking (and) could barely nap. I just never felt like this at this point in a competition before,” Biles continued. “And I tried to go out here and have fun and warm up in the back, feel a little bit better. But then once I came out I was like, ‘No, mental is not there.’ So I just need to let the girls do it and focus on myself.”
After Biles exited the team finals, her teammates Jordan Chiles, Suni Lee and Grace McCallum rallied to win a silver medal.
Biles explained: “I just felt like it would be a little bit better to take a backseat, work on my mindfulness, and I knew that the girls would do an absolutely great job.”
“I know they were a little bit worried going in, and emotions were all over the place, but I think they just needed reassurance that they were going to be okay,” she added. “They were. They did it without me and are Olympic silver medalists.”
Two years after withdrawing from the competition, Biles assured fans in her return to the sport that she’s in better spirits when it comes to managing her mental health — all thanks to “(lots) of therapy.”
“I go once a week for almost 2 hrs,” she shared via a 2023 Instagram Story, responding to a fan’s question about managing her mental health. “I’ve had so much trauma, so being able to work on some of the traumas & work on healing is a blessing.”
Naomi Osaka
Naomi Osaka smiling during her first-round match at the French Open in Paris on May 30, 2021.
Javier Garcia/BPI/Shutterstock
Two-time Australian Open champion Osaka announced ahead of the 2021 French Open that she would not be doing post-match press to preserve her mental health.
“I’ve often felt that people have no regard for athletes’ mental health, and this rings very true whenever I see a press conference or partake in one,” she wrote in a since-deleted Instagram post. “We’re often sat there and asked questions that we’ve been asked multiple times before or asked questions that bring doubt into our minds, and I’m just not going to subject myself to people that doubt me.”
She added: “I’ve watched many clips of athletes breaking down after a loss in the press room, and I know you have as well. I believe that whole situation is kicking a person while (they’re) down, and I don’t understand the reasoning behind it.”
While Osaka said she would accept the fines associated with her choice, she added that she hoped organizations would rethink that mandate.
“If the organizations think that they can just keep saying, ‘Do press or you’re gonna be fined,’ and continue to ignore the mental health of the athletes that are the centerpiece of their cooperation, then I just gotta laugh,” she concluded. “Anyways, I hope the considerable amount that I get fined for this will go towards a mental health charity.”
Following her first-round French Open win over Patricia Maria Tig in 2021, Osaka was fined $15,000 for not participating in media requirements. She subsequently withdrew from the Grand Slam tournament and issued a message on Instagram.
She opened up about her social anxiety in the lengthy post, sharing, “Anyone that knows me knows I’m introverted, and anyone that has seen me at the tournaments will notice that I’m often wearing headphones as that helps dull my social anxiety.”
Osaka added: “Though the tennis press has always been kind to me (and I wanna apologize especially to all the cool journalists who I may have hurt), I am not a natural public speaker and get huge waves of anxiety before I speak to the world’s media. I get really nervous and find it stressful to always try to engage and give you the best answers I can.”
Osaka said she does think that “the rules are quite outdated in parts.”
She concluded: “I wrote privately to the tournament apologizing and saying that I would be more than happy to speak with them after the tournament as the Slams are intense. I’m gonna take some time away from the court now, but when the time is right, I really want to work with the Tour to discuss ways we can make things better for the players, press and fans.”
Players, including Serena Williams and Martina Navratilova, immediately threw their support behind the young star.
Gracie Gold
Gracie Gold of the United States competes in the figure skating ladies’ free skating on day 13 of the Sochi 2014 Winter Olympics at Iceberg Skating Palace on Feb. 20, 2014, in Russia.
Matthew Stockman/Getty
The two-time U.S. ladies figure skating champion and 2014 Olympic team bronze medalist announced in 2017 that she would take some time off from figure skating to “seek professional help.”
“My passion for skating and training remains strong,” Gold said in a statement to USA Today. “However, after recent struggles on and off the ice, I realize I need to seek some professional help and will be taking some time off while preparing for my Grand Prix assignments.”
“This time will help me become a stronger person, which I believe will be reflected in my skating performances as well,” she added.
Gold received treatment for anxiety, depression and an eating disorder in 2017. She returned to skating in January 2020, competing in the U.S. Nationals, and stunned at the 2021 U.S. Figure Skating Championships.
In January 2024, leading up to the release of her candid memoir, Outofshapeworthlessloser: A Memoir of Figure Skating, F—— Up, and Figuring It Out, Gold recounted to PEOPLE her experiences with a mental health crisis, living with an eating disorder and surviving sexual assault at the hands of a fellow skater.
Kevin Love
Kevin Love during a NBA game between the Miami Heat and the Chicago Bulls on March 18, 2023.
Melissa Tamez/Icon Sportswire/Getty
Miami Heat forward Kevin Love created the Kevin Love Fund in 2018 — which seeks to raise awareness about children experiencing mental health issues — after writing an article for The Players’ Tribune explaining his struggles with mental health.
In the article, Love opened up about experiencing a panic attack during a game, which inspired the basketball player to work on his mental health. Love discussed his willingness to be open about his anxiety, telling PEOPLE in May 2019: “It was a very tough year for me away from the floor. People don’t even know the extent of it, but they know enough to be very relatable for me, having suffered from anxiety and depression my whole life, for as long as I can remember.”
“What I have found about mental health or mental illness is that it takes many shapes and forms,” he said. “It goes with every demographic, but I think, for myself, in creating my fund, the big demographic I really want to point out and look to is children. I think it is very important for kids and their parents to understand what is going on, and that’s why being here is so important.”
He added that basketball has always been a source of comfort to him: “It is a good stress reliever and a place where you can be freed. It was my first love, so basketball (has) always been my safe place, but I would say more often than not, in a large majority of (the) time, (anxiety) has taken place away from the court.”
Tacko Fall
Tacko Fall attends the 23rd annual Harold & Carole Pump Foundation Gala on Aug. 18, 2023, in Beverly Hills, Calif.
Rodin Eckenroth/Getty
Former NBA player Tacko Fall spoke to PEOPLE about maintaining his mental wellness during the COVID-19 pandemic in May 2020.
“For athletes, people don’t see that side of us,” Fall shared at the time. “They only see us on the court competing every night, having fun, just going out to fans and always putting (on) a smile. But sometimes, all that kind of stuff can get draining, and that’s very similar to the situation right now.”
He added: “A lot of people are out of their comfort zone, and they’re not doing things that they usually do, so it’s something different for them. Sitting at home might be a little depressing.”
Brandon Marshall
Brandon Marshall, former NFL wide receiver and executive chairman and co-founder of Project 375, attending the 2019 Forbes Healthcare Summit at Jazz at Lincoln Center on Dec. 5, 2019, in New York City.
Steven Ferdman/Getty
Former football star Brandon Marshall told PEOPLE in 2021 that at the start of his NFL career, he was prone to volatile behavior.
“The dumb mistakes I made in college, the stupid things I’ve said in the media,” he said, “all of that led to me sitting down with my team, my agent and my assistant at the time, and saying, ‘Yes. It’s time to get help and not just talk therapy, but let’s figure out if there’s a program out there.’ ”
In 2011, Marshall entered an outpatient program at McLean Hospital in Massachusetts for three months. He was later diagnosed with borderline personality disorder.
Following the revelation, Marshall created Project 375, which is dedicated to mental health education, support and treatment. He also founded House of Athlete, a health facility focused on the physical and mental wellness of athletes.
Dak Prescott
Quarterback Dak Prescott of the Dallas Cowboys walks off the field after losing the NFC Divisional Round playoff game to the Los Angeles Rams at Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum on Jan. 12, 2019.
Kevork Djansezian/Getty
In April 2020, Dallas Cowboys quarterback Dak Prescott revealed that his older brother, Jace Prescott, had died by suicide. He said that the death of his brother, coupled with the COVID-19 pandemic, caused him to go through the early stages of depression.
“All throughout this quarantine and this offseason, I started experiencing emotions I’ve never felt before,” Prescott said. “Anxiety for the main one. And then, honestly, a couple of days before my brother passed, I would say I started experiencing depression.”
At one point, Prescott said he “didn’t want to work out anymore” and “didn’t know necessarily what I was going through, to say the least, and hadn’t been sleeping at all.”
The athlete concluded his message by encouraging others to be open about their struggles: “Our adversities, our struggles (and) what we go through is always gonna be too much for ourselves and maybe too much for even one or two people but never too much for a community or … for people in the family that you love. So you have to share these things.”
Aaron Rodgers
Aaron Rodgers during the teams OTAs at Atlantic Health Jets Training Center on June 9, 2023, in Florham Park, New Jersey.
Rich Schultz/Getty
New York Jets quarterback Aaron Rodgers commended Prescott’s candidness, calling the moment “phenomenal.”
Rodgers told The Athletic in a 2020 interview with Matt Schneidman: “I think it’s great. I saw what Dak said, and I applaud him. I think it’s phenomenal, him speaking out because that’s true courage and that’s true strength. It’s not a weakness at all.”
“Other people’s opinions of ourselves have really nothing to do with us. And other people’s opinions of Dak have nothing to do with him. That’s their own inability to deal with their own s—, probably,” he added. “I think that, at the bare minimum, it makes you more relatable to people: that we have the same struggles and the same issues and the same desires to grow and change and see things in a better, positive light that so many people out there do.”
Rodgers concluded: “I think the more that we can connect with people, especially with conversations like this, the better our society can be moving forward as a connected society built around love and positivity.”
Laurie Hernandez
Lauren Hernandez of the United States competes in the balance beam final on day 10 of the Rio 2016 Olympic Games at Rio Olympic Arena on Aug. 15, 2016, in Brazil.
Lars Baron/Getty
Olympic gold and silver medalist Laurie Hernandez — who has been open in the past about experiencing depression and an eating disorder — told POPSUGAR in 2021 of her mental health journey, citing music, writing, reading and therapy for keeping her in check amid the uncertainty of the COVID-19 pandemic and Tokyo Olympics.
“You’re just taking a stranger who knows nothing about you or your life or what you’ve been through, doesn’t know anybody that you know,” she said of therapy. “And you get to share just everything and leave it in that room when you’re done. I think that’s wonderful.”
Hernandez also told POPSUGAR that she has been on antidepressants since 2019, saying, “There’s no shame in that, and I was putting it off for a while because even though I don’t stigmatize it for other people, I was doing it for myself.”
Noah Lyles
Silver medalist Noah Lyles of the United States celebrating following the men’s 200m final on day 12 of the athletics events of the Tokyo 2020 Olympic Games at Olympic Stadium on Aug. 4, 2021.
Jean Catuffe/Getty
In an August 2020 post on X (formerly Twitter), American sprinter Noah Lyles opened up about his reasons for taking antidepressants.
“Recently, I decided to get on antidepressant medication. That was one of the best decisions I have made in a while,” he said. “Since then I have been able to think (without) the dark undertone in mind of nothing matters. Thank you God for mental Health.”
Hayden Hurst
Hayden Hurst in a drill during the team’s training camp at The Bolt on July 26, 2024, in El Segundo, Calif.
Brandon Sloter/Icon Sportswire/Getty
“There is this persona that you’re an NFL player, and you’re almost like a robot. You just show up on Sundays, and you’re this big physical person,” Los Angeles Chargers tight end Hayden Hurst told Jada Pinkett Smith on Red Table Talk in December 2020.
“But I think it’s more masculine to truly reach out for help and say, ‘Hey, I have a problem, and I need assistance here,’ ” he continued.
The former Atlanta Falcons player had previously discussed his experience with depression, explaining in a couple of since-deleted videos posted to the team’s X account that his struggles first began while playing for a minor league baseball team affiliated with the Pittsburgh Pirates organization.
“I didn’t have control like I normally did, and then, sure enough, I let a 95-mph fastball go, and it hit this kid in the head,” Hurst said. “For me, it was just sheer embarrassment.”
The incident led him to leave baseball for a football career. He’d gone on to play for the University of South Carolina but continued turning to drugs and alcohol to cope.
“One night it just caught up to me,” Hurst continued, referring to his 2016 suicide attempt. “At that point, I wanted out. I’d fought for so long, and I just wanted it to be over.”
He said, “It was the best and the worst thing that’s ever happened in my life. I made a promise to myself, ‘I’m not going to do this again.’ For whatever reason, God looked down on me and gave me a second shot at this thing.”
Aly Raisman
Alexandra Raisman of the United States practicing on the beam during training sessions for artistic gymnastics ahead of the 2012 Olympic Games at Greenwich Training Academy on July 26, 2012, in London.
Getty Images Europe Staff
Two-time Olympian Aly Raisman opened up about how she’s cared for her mental health since retiring from gymnastics in 2020. In April 2021, CBS This Morning co-host Anthony Mason asked Raisman how she has reconnected with herself since retiring, and the former gymnast gave a candid answer.
Raisman said that starting gymnastics at a young age was to blame for her struggles with mental health: “My results, or my worth in the sport, is based off of what other people think of me.”
She noted that it is a “work in progress and healing is not one-size-fits-all.”
“I feel differently each day, but it’s been really interesting because I went from being in the best shape of my life, working out six to seven hours some days, to honestly, some days, not even being able to go for a 10-minute walk outside,” she continued. “I’m still kind of trying to navigate how to fully recover, but I’ve learned the importance of being kind to myself.”
Raisman added: “Because I’ve realized that when I’m really stressed out — when I’m having a lot of anxiety — I’m often really hard on myself, and it is exhausting. I’m sure anyone who’s watching who can relate to experiencing some type of trauma or anxiety can recognize just how exhausting it can be. So I’ve learned the importance of taking time for myself each day and prioritizing my mental health.”
In November 2022, the retired gymnast spoke to PEOPLE about how enjoying her personal life has improved her mental health.
“I’m also realizing as I’m getting older that I’m definitely becoming someone who needs more alone time,” Raisman said. “I’m learning to prioritize that, which includes spending time with my dog, Mylo, who I’m just so in love with.”
That same month, Raisman was honored with the 2022 Hope Award for Depression Advocacy at the Hope for Depression Research Foundation’s annual luncheon for her longtime mental health advocacy work and for speaking openly about her experiences with anxiety, depression and PTSD.
Michael Oher
Former offensive lineman Michael Oher of the Baltimore Ravens looks on from the field after a game against the Pittsburgh Steelers at Heinz Field on Dec. 27, 2009, in Pittsburgh.
George Gojkovich/Getty
Retired NFL player (and the inspiration for 2009’s The Blind Side) Michael Oher opened up to PEOPLE in March 2021 about his mental health and healing from childhood trauma.
“I’m still traumatized, and I still deal with things that I dealt with as a kid,” Oher told PEOPLE. “If you’re still dealing with trauma, (therapy) is definitely needed early on, because I had to do that to get back healthy.”
He added, “The mind is the most powerful thing, and it has to be healthy to be successful. I bottled so much stuff up throughout my life. I carried that with me, and I think it hurt me in the long run. That may be the only thing holding you back from being where you want to be: talking to somebody.”
Jordan Chiles
Jordan Chiles during the Artistic Gymnastics Women’s Qualification on day two of the Olympic Games Paris 2024 on July 28, 2024.
Jamie Squire/Getty
Before becoming an Olympic gold medalist at the 2024 Summer Olympics, Chiles nearly quit gymnastics after placing 11th in the all-around competition at nationals in 2018.
“I didn’t think the sport wanted me anymore,” she told The New York Times in 2021 of the experience. “So I went in the opposite direction.”
It wasn’t until she found strength in seeking help that she gained a new perspective.
“It took me a while to actually ask for help because my sport does teach us to be independent,” she told Teen Vogue in a 2024 interview. “But when I finally did, I was at ease with my mental health and being able to say, ‘It’s okay to ask for help.’ ”
“I feel more confident in myself, and I’m able to be the Jordan that I’ve always wanted to be when I first started gymnastics,” Chiles added.
