Michael Phelps, the most decorated athlete in Olympic history, has a checkered and well-publicized history with alcohol and drug use.
But is the 22-time Olympic medalist an alcoholic?
“I don’t know,” was his candid response when the question was put to him. “I honestly don’t know.”
“I know I probably have moments where I have gone off the deep end where I shouldn’t.”
USA Swimming suspended Phelps for six months in 2014 for his second DUI arrest — the first coming ten years earlier — and he was left out of the U.S. team for the 2015 World Championships.
Shortly afterwards, Phelps attended a six-week, in-patient program to “provide the help I need to better understand myself.”
“I checked myself in because I think I was at a point in my life where something needed to change,” Phelps told NBC.
“It’s been in Ohio as early as the mid-1850s at least, brought in as an ornamental plant because of its unique foliage and white flowers,” Gardner said. “It was actually planted in people’s landscaping, and it has been spreading.”
In 2009, a year after his historic eight-gold medal haul at the Beijing Olympics, a photo emerged of Phelps smoking marijuana in an incident he said made him realize who his real friends were.
The 30-year-old is currently training for what will be his fifth Olympic Games at Rio 2016.
“I want to retire how I want to retire — and I have a great opportunity to do that,” he said.