{"id":5746,"date":"2021-11-15T17:56:36","date_gmt":"2021-11-15T22:56:36","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/rcourihay.com\/?p=5746"},"modified":"2026-03-13T17:18:22","modified_gmt":"2026-03-13T17:18:22","slug":"simone-biles-is-blowing-the-stigma-surrounding-mental-health-out-of-the-water-says-michael-phelps","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/rcourihay.com\/staging\/blog\/simone-biles-is-blowing-the-stigma-surrounding-mental-health-out-of-the-water-says-michael-phelps\/","title":{"rendered":"Simone Biles Is ‘Blowing the Stigma Surrounding Mental Health Out of the Water,’ Says Michael Phelps"},"content":{"rendered":"

The original story appeared on People.com. Click here<\/a> to view<\/p>\n

The most decorated Olympian of all time was honored Wednesday for his mental health advocacy at the Hope for Depression Research Foundation\u2019s annual luncheon in N.Y.C.<\/p>\n

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.<\/p>\n

“As somebody who’s struggled with depression and anxiety,”\u00a0Phelps<\/a>\u00a0tells 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.”<\/p>\n

“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.<\/p>\n

Adds the 36-year-old, “A lot of people may not understand how mental health works and how it’s not really like a switch that you can turn on and off. It comes and goes whenever it really wants to.”\u00a0\t\t<\/p>\n