Phelps' mom has stories for all seasons

(China Daily)
Updated: 2009-04-08 07:48

Debbie Phelps got plenty of face time during the Olympics. Now, in the wake of her son winning eight gold medals at the Beijing Games, she's putting out her own book to relate the experiences of a single mother raising three kids, one of whom turned out to be the greatest swimmer ever.

A Mother For All Seasons was scheduled to release yesterday. In it, Michael Phelps' mother also touches on the embarrassment of her son being photographed inhaling from a marijuana pipe after his Olympic triumph.

"Yes, it's an obstacle, a speed bump," Debbie said in a recent telephone interview as she worked late at the Baltimore-area middle school where she serves as principal. "But things happen for a reason. This is something that all parents go through in some form, it just doesn't happen to most people after your son has won eight gold medals at the Olympics."

Michael's photo turned up in a British tabloid on Feb 1, severely damaging the reputation of an athlete who broke Mark Spitz's 36-year-old record for the most gold medals at one Olympics.

It was the second major faux pas for the swimmer, who pleaded guilty to a drunken driving charge after winning six golds at the Athens Olympics in 2004.

Debbie was livid when her son called with news of his drunken driving arrest, and it was another tough blow when she learned of his latest troubles. But she made sure to express her love when he came under intense criticism, lost a major sponsor and received a three-month suspension from USA Swimming.

"It was difficult, very difficult," she said. "As a parent, you very much want to listen to what your children have to say, and you also hope they listen to what you have to say, too."

The swimmer was hesitant to discuss the incident at first, even with his mother. But Debbie managed to break down that barrier.

"There were times when he was like, 'I don't want to talk right now.' And I would (say), 'I know you don't, but maybe we need to'," she related. "Eventually, we were able to talk about the whole incident and process it and he was able to share with me his side."

Debbie's book is divided into 12 chapters, mirroring the months of the year and the ever-changing seasons. She writes of an idyllic childhood growing up in a small town in western Maryland, then having to deal with two traumatic blows: the untimely death of her father, and a divorce that left her a single parent raising two daughters and a son.

"My mother had no profession," she said. "After my father died, I watched her make five dollars out of one dollar, a dollar out of 10 cents. She stretched a budget. But she also taught me so much about how to embrace life: have faith, believe in God and we will get through this as a family."

Those lessons were invaluable to Debbie when her marriage fell apart. "The man I married, who was the father to my three children, he was like my knight in shining armor," Debbie said. "He was my high school sweetheart. But what I found is that when you get married sometimes, instead of growing closer, you grow apart."

(China Daily 04/08/2009 page10)