Michael Phelps Talks Rehabilitation In Sports Illustrated Cover Story

BALTIMORE (WJZ) -- Baltimore's world champion swimmer was in such a dark place, he no longer wanted to be alive. Michael Phelps opens up for the first time about the days following his second DUI arrest last September.

In an emotional Sports Illustrated article, Phelps talks about rehab and his transformation since.

Meghan McCorkell has more.

The Sports Illustrated article reads like a tell-all book, with Michael Phelps detailing his darkest days and his push to come back.

For four days after his second DUI arrest, Olympic champion Michael Phelps was embarrassed, in the fetal position, locked inside his Baltimore rowhouse.

"I was in a really dark place... not wanting to be alive anymore... I look back now... I lived in a bubble for a long time," he said.

Phelps opens up in a new Sports Illustrated article.

"Reading it, you really feel like, 'Oh, he's opening up to me,'" said Shana Harris, Warschawski Agency.

His lowest point--his drunk driving bust in the Fort McHenry Tunnel.

Following his arrest, Phelps was suspended by U.S.A. Swimming for six months and banned from competing at the World Championships.

Family and friends pushed the swimmer to go to rehab. Former Raven Ray Lewis, saying: "I gave him some harsh reality... I said, 'Bro, what are you doing with your life?'"

The man who's stood on more Olympic podiums than anyone spent 45 days in an Arizona rehab.

Now Phelps is back in the pool, living in Arizona. He hasn't missed a practice, and hasn't taken a sip of alcohol.

"I've come a long way in the last year," he said.

But will that be enough?

"From here, I think he has the opportunity to really continue to be a star and be even further than he was before," said Harris.

Phelps hopes that, too, saying: "I'm back to being the little kid who once said anything is possible. You're going to see a different me than you saw in any of the other Olympics."

Phelps also promises Rio de Janeiro will be his last Olympics, saying he has no shot at Tokyo in 2020.

To read the entire Sports Illustrated article, CLICK HERE.