Lindsey Vonn Says 'Everyone Should Have a Therapist' to Support Mental Health
Marco Trovati/Associated Press
Olympic gold medalist Lindsey Vonn said Wednesday everybody should treat their mental health with the same attention as their physical health.
“I feel like, honestly, everyone should have a therapist,” Vonn told Tom Schad of USA Today. “It should be like having a dentist, or going to a pediatrician. We should all take mental health seriously and do our best every day to make sure we’re taking care of it.”
Vonn, a winter Olympian, added it’s something athletes must be keenly aware of and honest about as they prepare for this year’s Summer Games, which kick off next month in Tokyo.
“I wish I had been able to—or been strong enough to—talk about [depression] back in the early parts of my career,” she said. “But I think the older I got and the more support I got from others, the more I realized there’s no shame in it.”
The 36-year-old Minnesota native was one of alpine skiing’s biggest stars at her peak. She won her only Olympic gold medal in the women’s downhill at the 2010 Vancouver Games and also took home a pair of bronze medals from Vancouver (Super-G) and the 2018 Winter Games in South Korea (downhill).
She also won eight total medals (two gold, three silver and three bronze) in the World Championships throughout her career, which ended with her 2019 retirement.
