Over a span of 19 years, Lindsey Vonn established herself as a force to reckon with. The 4-time Olympian has garnered 3 Olympics medals and 82 world cup wins, a women’s record that stood strong up until 2023. Her illustrious journey has been nothing short of a slippery slope. She officially stepped away from the sport in 2019, after suffering from several minor and major injuries over the years. But there were darker clouds looming over the most decorated female skier of all time.

Most days, Vonn found it difficult to peel herself off her bed. While it isn’t odd for athletes to honestly discuss their mental health struggles now, things weren’t as simple 10 years ago. In a recent episode of Unfiltered Waters, Vonn dives deep into the issues she faced when she was initially coming to terms with it.

Lindsey Vonn is finally at ease about her battle with depression

Amidst a very successful career, Lindsey Vonn was coming to terms with her depression and anxiety. During a candid chat with Unfiltered Waters, Vonn recalls, “I think it was just honestly a time in my life where I felt like I needed to talk about it to move forward. There were so many things that I had bottled up that it kind of became too much.” She was first diagnosed at 18, while her parents were in the midst of a divorce. While Vonn was in the best years of her career, she felt it looming and wanted to get it out to move on.

She continues, “Something was missing, and I just felt like okay. I need to do this to move forward.” However, her team felt otherwise. Vonn admits, “My team was like, “This is a risky move.” You know you could lose sponsorships, you could lose favor in the public.” She eventually states that she didn’t care, she just wanted to share her journey with the public at a time where it wasn’t common practice.

Vonn addresses how it is refreshing to see more athletes open up about their struggles, something that truly makes all of us human. It is rejuvenating to see how people are willing to listen and have an honest conversation about how their depression or anxiety is affecting them. Something that wasn’t the case when she decided to take that step. She confesses, “Whereas when I spoke about it, it was like, wow, I could end my career because I am speaking about mental health. Which is crazy to think about at this point.” The scales were tipped in favor of opening up due to the isolation bottling it up brought on.

Her first bout with accepting she needed help was when Vonn stopped going to the gym. Keeping her diagnosis to herself went on to wreak havoc on her. While admitting this was something that needed fixing, she started doing much better because of making that decision. However, this isn’t the first time she has opened up about her struggles.

Learning to cope with the aftereffects of her diagnosis

Lindsey Vonn first went public with her diagnosis in a 2012 interview with People Magazine. After being vocal about her struggles for 10 years, she delved into the intricacies in her book My Story: Rise, released in 2022. She further explains how she turned into a person she barely recognized. She eventually found herself feeling powerless, and couldn’t do much to stop it. Initially, she wanted to keep the diagnosis to herself. “I didn’t want people to think that I was weak.” But that soon changed.

After her divorce, Vonn didn’t want to compartmentalize how she felt anymore. It all worked out since doing that made it seem like a weight was lifted off her shoulders. But talking about it was just half the battle. Vonn founds different ways to cope with her depression. One of them was doing what she loved – skiing and competing. Despite still struggling with juggling her emotions, she always found herself on the slopes. They were Vonn’s safe space. Even though her journey wasn’t always all fine and dandy, it significantly helped.

Shortly after, in 2019, several injuries left her needing multiple surgeries over 10 months. This ended her 19-year-long career. She believes she would still competitively ski if she could. But she’s now found something else to help her cope. Vonn shifted her focus back to journaling and taking as many as naps as she possibly can. She believes this has allowed her to shut her mind off and truly recuperate.

Lindsey Vonn might be far away from the brutal cold and slopes, but with a change of scenery and 4 fur babies, she is doing better than ever. She hoped that by opening up, she could extend an olive branch to let people know that they’re not alone. She has spent several years skiing through dangerous conditions, but nothing will be as brave as accepting and inviting people in on her battle with depression.