interview with michael phelps. this is piers morgan tonight. >> good everybodying, the games in london will be some of the most spectacular performances in history. a remarkable 22 medals. i sat down with michael phelps. as you see, he speaks from the heart and holds back very little. so michael, welcome. you told me if you're ever tired, you get a bit grouchy and you can be very short. so how are you feeling? i feel all right. >> grouchy? tired? you've been answering questions all day. and if i just repeat the same old nonsense, then you're going to give me less time? >> i'll just be like a tape recorder. >> london is my hoechl town. what's extraordinary is every american athlete, when i asked e asked them to describe a role model, almost every one of them said you. with that comes responsibility. are you aware of the status you have amongst your peer group? and what do you feel with that responsibility? >> i mean, sometimes i feel it. i like to think of myself as a normal person who has a passion and goes out and does et. that's how i've always lived my life. >> i've seen you say that before. but, come on, they're not a normal person. >> i consider myself normal. what do you consider normal? >> i spend about 20 minutes in the pool a day. >> what i'm struck by by you is i don't think i've seen anybody do what you did. you trained for five years, literally, every single day. 365 days. each of those five years consecutively. do you know anyone else who's done that? >> no. >> so what is the motivation at the end of the day for that kind of extreme dedication? >> if you want to be the best, you have to do things other people aren't willing to do. and that point, it's a couple more than anyone else gets every single year. and, also, in swimming, if you miss one day of swimming, it takes you twice as long to get that. so, you know, for example, for me, after 2008, i took six months off. it probably took me a year and a half to get back to where i really needed to be and should be. >> was the dream to be an a limpic champion? or do you have other olympic dreams? what were the young michael phelps dreams? >> o lirpic gold medallist. i mean, i grew up, my sister was first in the nation, third in the world. she was 14, so i was nine. i got to ten and i saw all the cool things she got to do, like travel the world and do this and do that. i said oh, that sounds cool, i'll do that. >> you have a younger brother. >> we were all very competitive vmt. >> when you were home, did you play ball games together? >> i would always try to. they wouldn't always let me. but. . >> try and describe what it means to be a great american. >> you know, i think, for me, to be an american is, you know, it's one of the greatest things in the world. i've been able to grow up with everything. freedom. tloult my career, being able to wear the stars and stripes and being able to step up on the box or hearing the national anthem play, it's one of the greatest feelings in the world because you know that there are people at home watching you and supporting you. and the stories i've heard from penal telling me what they were doing and where they were from 2008, i think it really shows how close we are as a country. it's pretty special to feel the support from all of the programs. >> it changed for basketball in my eyes, it made basketball what it is. >> i never met him. >> what would you ask him? if you were able to meet michael jordan? >> i've had that thought a lot. >> what's the thing you're most curious about with him? >>. >> i mean, i think part of me would ask him about what made him come back to the sport. what made him go to basketball and decide to come back. one of the coolest things that i love about him is it didn't matter what he had going on off the court or if he was sick or this or that. he came out every single night of the court and he did what he d to do to get the job done. that's what champions do. it doesn't matter what else is going on. when you walk into your arena or whatever you excel at, you're there to take care of a job that you have to do. >> one of the down sides is you just become more dangerous than you were before. how have you dealt with that side of things? >> i'll be the first to admit i've made a lot of mistakes in my life. but i think being able to have the opportunity of being a celebrity, you know, it helps me achieve some of the things that i want to do with the goal to raise the bar in the sport of swimming. i think people shoumd learn to swim more. we have seen a significant change over the last ten years. but in my eyes, it can change so much more. >> when we come back, michael tells us how to hit rock bottom after winning all of that gold in beijing. 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this is a scandal of epic proportions? and i saw reactions, i saw sponsors getting twitchy and so on. and i really thought it lost all sense of proportion. to me, what i saw was a guy, yeah, all right, he shouldn't have been doing it. but i saw a guy who had spent five consecutive years in a pool. probably just wanted to let his hair down. >> i mean, like i said, i literally made a boat load of mistakes. and that's a part of growing and learning and i guess becoming an adult. with every mistake that you make, you have to feel the con kwenss coming out. >> when you saw those coming out, how did you feel? >> not too good. >> did you lose your cool? what is that feeling like? like the worst in the world? like the lowest of the low. i mean, i think it sort of, just, yeah, it's terrible. >> i thought you said the worst thing was having to tell your mother. i can relate to that. how did you get through that? how did you brace yourself for that? >> my mom has been how all moms are. they're very supportive of their children. and, you know, my mom growing up, you know, always let us see how we -- or choose the decisions that we wanted to. so obviously very disappointed in the dgsz i made. but, you know, obviously, i learned from it. i'll make a million mistakes in my life. as long as i never make the same mistake again, i'll be able to learn and grow. >> did you feel people overrearkted? >> did you feel people overreacted? >> yeah, i did. it's only because you are michael phelps. >> people build you up and they'll knock you down. >> yep. >> i mean, i don't know. i try not to get myself in too much trouble. >> have you found you got more attractive the more gold medals you've won? >> the biggest thing is you have to find who's real and who's not. >> how many times have you been properly in love? >> with what? >> i was assuming a woman. a woman would probably be twice. >> have you been capable of prop every love, given the extraordinary career, you think? have you had your heartbroken? >> sure, definitely. probably in high school. >> what was worse, having your heartbroken or losing a race? a race you really wanted to win. >> i think they're both learning experiences. >> i'm trying to get to the age-old question of great champions. does it come before anything? does winning that gold medal repeatedly come above everything educational? for me, it's more about personal goals. and i know that if i prepare mooisz the best way that i can, then everything else will fall into place. >> do you think you're going to retire after this? or is it a crazy question to ask any athlete? i remember steve redgray, our greatest olympic champion constantly retiring. >> i'm retiring. >> will you literally give up all competitive swimming? >> competitive swimming, yeah. >> is swimming still fun for you? >> it is. you can imagine just doing laps for no reason? >> i think one of the biggest things, you know, after i do retire, now, i go to the ocean, i go to the beach, i don't want to get in the water. i spend so much time in the water, no. i'll sit here and you guys have fun. if i can look back at my career and say i've done everything i've rve wanted, no matter how many records, medals, this, that, whatever. if i can look back in my career and say that, it doesn't matter anything else. i consider my career a success. >> a rare look at the michael phelps very few people have seen. chase scene netflix coming soon extra butter tickets swoon penguin journey junior mints movie phone evil prince bollywood 3d shark attack ned the head 5% cashback signup for 5% cashback on movies through september. it pays to discover. ttd#: 1-800-345-2550 let's talk about the cookie-cutter retirement advice ttd#: 1-800-345-2550 you get at some places. ttd#: 1-800-345-2550 they say you have to do this, have that, invest here ttd#: 1-800-345-2550 ttd#: 1-800-345-2550 you know what? 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>> the first time i met him, i went to one of his summer leagues. he would be fine and then he would get sick. and i came back and he was just happy able to sit and spend time. >> he had a form of cancer? >> yeah. and he would just relax. and it would kind of help him relax and take his mind off the pain. his parents have told the story of he suddenly took a dramatic turn for the worse. your plane was delayed -- >> i showed up at mid night. and i turned around and went back home the next day. >> you spent hours with him? >> literally. he was asleep and didn't wake up at all. justalked to him and held his hand. and very shortly after, he passed away. >> do you feel that there's a side to you that very few people know? do you protect it? >> there are things that i protected, yeah. >> hearing you talk about stevie and hearing what you said, you see a very different side to the steely, kwhachampion athlete. >> i would say people know about 90% of what happens in my life. the other 10%, no one needs to know. >> there was a period when your coach thought he lost you. and no one can blame you. you smashed all records. there was, ostensibly, nothing left to swim for. and he thought, really, that that was possibly it. what was going through your mind for that period? >> nothing. i literally was just unmotivated. didn't want to do anything. didn't want to get out of bed. didn't want to work out. i had no drive. i had no goals. i mean, i had no goals, but i just didn't want to do anything about it. >> do you feel now as motivated as you've ever been? >> i wouldn't say as motivated as i have ever been, but i am very motivated. after going through some of the races that i've had happen over the last three queers, i just don't want to lose anymore. >> you've got to break three for the world record of olympic med das. is that the real goal? be honest. >> i ak chully didn't even know that was the number until earlie in the year when somebody braugt it up. i have personal things that i want to accomplish. and that's what i'm after. i always want to do things that nobody has ever done before. just to be able to be in the same sentence with some of the olympic greats. >> there's a very high probability of that. you will be the greatest olympian in the history of the olympics. >> pretty cool. >> pretty cool? i would have been able to complete everything that i've ever wanted. if i can look back on my career and say that, it doesn't matter with anything else. i consider my career a success. >> how would you like to be remembered? whatever happens? >> being the first michael phelps. that's really the only thing. doing something that nobody else has ever done before. >> michael, all the vr best to you. it's been a pleasure sitting dounl. michael phelps says he's now officially retired. he everyone told "us weekly" he wouldn't rule out appearing on dancing with the stars. 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[ male announcer ] make the switch. take action. take advil®. and if pain keeps you up, sleep better with advil® pm. imagine a world in which a first lady forces the kpander and loses to a less experienced rival and then becomes the secretary of state? ridiculous. well, not quite that ridiculous, but, anyway, this is the political guilty pleasure. and who better than sigourn sigourney weaver. she's grossed -- this is quite extraordinary, $4 billion worldwide. she's played the toughest character in alien and sigourney weaver joins me now. >> i'm delighted to be here. >> the $4 billion woman. that must make you feel great, doesn't it? >> i actually didn't know. now i'll know how to greet myself in the morning. >> that should be your number one thing, your calling card. resume, $4 billion, box office. >> what more do you knead to know? let's talk about politics. it's very realistic and, clearly, most people asse it's loosely based on hillary clinton's story. do you agree with that? was that delivered in the back of your mind? >> i think if it had been hill ri's story x i probably wouldn't have done it as much as e admired her. but as soon as i started reading it, i was hooked. i was hooked on elaine and her entire family. i think it's inspired not only by mrs. clinton, but also by madeline albright. we've had three very capable secretaries of state, but we are not yet willing to maintain the notion of an actual woman president. that's one of the things our series is trying to find out. it's almost like when a woman actually says i believe i would be a good president. she's considered to be ambitious. >> america is changing in all sorts of ways with gay marriage and all of these issues really gathering great momentum. d you feel like the concept may change very quickly? >> well, i suppose it could. but you sound more optimistic than i feel. hillary clinton is a great example of someone i could see being reelected. >> the fact is we are almost 50% of the population. so although it's changing, it's a kbraet shame because i actually think women are very effective leaders. we have a different approach to leading and participating. and i think it's the kind of influence to have riekt now. >> your father was an extraordinary character. he was nelson rocefeller's campaign. do you remember that? >> well, i do. i was sent out in the street to campaign for rocky myself against nixon in the primary. i think i was a teenager and i wasn't really aware of too much going on, but i knew that i -- i still am very aware that he's the kind of republican that we don't really have anymore. >> right, and what did that do to your view of nixon? >> my father had some show called make me life t. make me laugh. and he decided to do it with three different senators. and i guess the third guest, the concept of the show was they would have different comedians, you know, pitching jokes and trying to make these guys laugh. so they pitched one joke at him, no response. finally, the third joke, tlfgs a pause and then nixon laughed. and then nixon came up to my father and said, you know, pat, i didn't really need to laugh, but i thaukt i'd look better if i did. >> that's a great impression, by the way. >> but i've never forgotten that story. and my father who was a republican called nixon tricky dicky every single time he referred to him. was your father quietly smug when nixon came crashing down? >> no, i think he was hea heartbroken. he didn't want to see a republican be that stupid, especially nixon who was a brilliant man. >> it would be great to say america learned its lesson. but, of course, you know, right now, you look at it and you see washington paralyzed. and you see the emergence for the super pact being encouraged by the supreme court now. to go out under freed