Michael Phelps Never Wishes to Repeat Same Experiences With His Sons: “There Are Some Bad Childhood Memories of My Father”

The formative years of a child mold their adulthood. Negative experiences can have long-lasting impacts that don’t surface until much later in life. For swimming legend Michael Phelps, a similar phenomenon led to a drinking ban in his household.

When Phelps turned 9, his parents separated, and his father’s absence took a toll on him. His issues with his father and his long battle with depression led to a very dark phase in his life. Learning from the mistakes his dad made, Phelps has made some rules, so he doesn’t follow down in those footsteps.

Michael Phelps reveals their household drinking policy

Talking to Allison Kugel in 2020, Michael Phelps delved into the nitty-gritty details of his life. Naturally, his second DUI in 2014, which led to a 45-day stint in rehab, came up in conversation. Kugel asked Phelps if he stayed sober after the incident, and Phelps revealed that they didn’t drink in his household at all.

The reason being his past experience with his father’s drinking habits. He explained, “There are some bad childhood memories of my father [drinking] or seeing other things like that. I’m somebody who is very conscious of not having my boys go through some of the same things that I lived through and had to see.” 

Phelps knows from experience how these things have a long-lasting impact on a child’s psyche. “When I was a kid, my dad didn’t know how to handle certain situations,” he continued. He noticed how his father’s conduct in his youth affected his behavior even 20 years later. The swimmer has learned to be able to connect his habits to his childhood to better understand himself.

READ MORE: Michael Phelps Once Revealed How His 15-Year-Old Self Got “Blindsided” by 30-Year-Old Men: “Just Got Numb”

“I feel like at times I get very irritable in certain situations because of it, and I’ll go back to my childhood self and realize, ‘Oh, this is probably why I’m feeling this way right now. It’s because of something that scared me from my childhood and this situation is kind of poking at something,’” he revealed.

Phelps teaches his kids how to regulate their emotions

Through Michael Phelps’ turbulent road to recovery, the swimmer understood the importance of regulating your emotions instead of bottling them up. He was forced to ignore his own feelings for years because of his competitive swimming career. Naturally, he doesn’t want his kids to go through the same negative effects of such a coping mechanism.

He explained how he teaches them to use breathing exercises to concentrate better, just as he does himself. “I have to take a deep breath and be still with it. That is what I teach my sons. When you feel overwhelming emotions, you just have to take a second to realize what they are,” he said.

After giving up his dependence on alcohol, Phelps had to learn how to acknowledge his feelings and cope with them. He doesn’t want to be the same man he saw his father as. For this, he has taken the measures he feels necessary.

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