American ski icon Lindsey Vonn admitted that she’s been struggling with her mental health in the aftermath of her horrific crash at the 2026 Winter Olympics in Milan and Cortina.
Vonn has spent the past few months recovering from a dramatic crash in her downhill run that led to a disastrous crash and multiple injuries – including a broken leg.
Months later, her recovery has gone well and she has begun to use crutches to walk again – even showing her ability to exercise in one social media clip.
But speaking to People Magazine, Vonn revealed how crushing it was in isolation as she recovered from the injuries.
‘It’s definitely been up and down,’ she told the outlet – revealing that she suffered from depression in the loneliness.
‘I’d say in the last month, it’s definitely gotten better, but of course there were really low moments. I hate being dependent on people, and was pretty much 100% dependent for everything,’ Vonn added.
Olympian Lindsey Vonn revealed her battle with depression after her harrowing crash
Vonn clipped the gate on her second turn and ended up breaking her leg in a violent wreck
Laid up in the hospital, Vonn says she spent plenty of time on her phone reading comments about her on social media – which led to her feeling increasingly lonely
‘It was quite a challenge, just being in the hospital alone for two and a half weeks. Being completely immobile for that extended time period was so rough.’
In the time she had to herself, the only thing Vonn had to pass the time was her phone – which led to her scrolling endlessly through social media to read what others said about her.
‘There were a million things that were being said online, that people were so convinced that they knew even though they don’t really have a concept of ski racing, and what it physically takes,’ the 41-year-old told the outlet.
‘So I think reading all of that online was hard. Of course, I tried not to read it, but I also didn’t really have any other way of being connected to the outside world, because I was so isolated.’
With Vonn laid up in bed, she admitted to replying to some of the critiques of her effort to race down the mountain on a previously torn ACL.
Vonn tore her ACL in Switzerland the week before the Olympics, but chose to compete anyway in a controversial and scrutinized decision.
‘Sometimes I got frustrated and, you know, had a hard time staying away from battling trolls on Twitter,’ she said, jokingly.
‘But sometimes you just gotta stand up for yourself. And I maybe did that a few too many times, but it’s hard.’
Vonn admitted it was tough to not defend herself among an onslaught of troll comments
The 41-year-old is now walking with crutches and has returned to working out
Vonn admitted it was hard to avoid any confrontations, but knew that very few people in the world know what it’s like to be in her shoes.
‘It’s hard to have thick enough skin to not combat everyone that wants to tell you what to do, or how to do it, or tell you that you should have done something differently when there’s maybe five people in the world that even understand the pressure that I was under,’ she told the outlet.
‘Racing without an ACL and, and doing as well as I did, you know, there’s maybe five people in the world who get that. But I try not to put too much weight in all those armchair quarterbacks.’
With her healing well underway, and the skiing season over, the Olympic gold medalist has her sights set on a getaway.
‘The plane ticket is booked!’ she says. ‘I want to have a good summer, and I need to kind of disconnect from everything.
‘I also feel like in the next six weeks, I’ll be at a point where I can start living normally. I’ll still have to do some exercised, but yeah, I have some stuff planned. And I’m really looking forward to it.’
