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The most decorated Olympian of all time was honored Wednesday for his mental health advocacy at the Hope for Depression Research Foundation’s annual luncheon in N.Y.C.
Michael Phelps, the winningest swimmer of all time, has nothing but praise for Simone Biles, widely-regarded as the gymnastics G.O.A.T., for sharing her mental health struggles with the world when she withdrew from events at the Tokyo Olympics this past summer.
“As somebody who’s struggled with depression and anxiety,” Phelps tells PEOPLE, Biles “opening up and talking about mental health is a big, powerful step forward toward blowing the stigma out of the water. It’s more powerful than we can imagine.”
“When you watch the Olympics and you see somebody like Simone Biles go through what she went through, I think it probably took a lot of people by surprise,” he says.
Phelps, the most decorated Olympian in history, spoke to PEOPLE Wednesday when he was honored with the 2021 Hope Award for Depression Advocacy at the Hope for Depression Research Foundation’s annual luncheon at the Plaza Hotel in New York.
The former athlete won the award for being one of the first — and most prominent — athletes to open up about his own challenges with depression and for starting the Michael Phelps Foundation in 2008, which encourages young people to embrace healthy living, both mental and physical.
Many people are still afraid to admit they are grappling with mental illness, for fear of being labeled or stigmatized, he says.
He says he’s more than happy to help others understand it’s okay to ask for help when struggling. “It’s bigger than anything I ever have done in the pool,” he says. “Being able to have the opportunity to help somebody and potentially save their life, is absolutely everything because I know what that feels like to not want to be alive.”
Despite the challenges he faces with his depression every single day, he says, “I’m happy in the skin that I’m in. It shows that hard work does pay off.”
Without the effort, he says, “I wouldn’t be able to sit here and have three amazing kids and a beautiful family and, you know, a dream come true.”
