Allyson Felixis opening up about her difficult road to motherhood.
Then for a time after she gave birth, Felix tells PEOPLE in this week’s issue, on newsstands Friday, that she “struggled with not feeling like myself” as she was being told that her best athletic days were behind her.
“It’s hard to quiet that noise,” she says. “I also had my own doubts about whether I could ever get back to myself again [after childbirth]. What really helped was surrounding myself with positivity and people who believed in me. That and looking at the data that I was on pace.”
Around the same time, Felixpublicly split from her sponsor Nike. She claimed that the company had been pressuring her to return to training as quickly as possible after her pregnancy and offered her a salary that was 70 percent less than her previous compensation.
“The resources and support weren’t there,” she says.
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Nike changed their maternity policy for athletes in response to Felix, who decided to launch her own shoe company,Saysh, in June.
“After parting ways with Nike, I didn’t have a footwear sponsor, so I needed shoes to wear in the Olympics,” she says. “My brother was like, ‘What if we do this ourselves?’ It sounded crazy. But the more I sat with it, I was like, ‘Wow, this is an opportunity.’ "
Felix ultimately ended up proving all of her naysayers wrong at the 2020 Summer Olympics in Tokyo, where she made history as the most decorated U.S. track and field athlete of all time with 11 medals.
“To have that come together at the games was really special,” she says. “I was proud to represent other moms. I know so many other people have felt that same way or have been told that same thing.”
For all the details on what Allyson Felix’s life is really like, pick up the latest issue ofPEOPLE, on newsstands everywhere Friday.
Allyson Felix.Patrick Smith/Getty
Despite making history, Felix says that when she returned home to her daughter Camryn, now 2, and her husband, hurdler Kenneth Ferguson, in Los Angeles, it was back to business as usual.
“Two days after I got home from the Olympics, I got a call from my daughter’s school saying she was sick and needed to be picked up,” she recalls. “You just get right back into life and knowing this little person needs you to take care of them.”
Still, she wouldn’t change her life for the world.
When it comes to their parenting styles, Felix says she and her husband — whomshe renewed her vows with last weekend— balance each other out.
“I feel like I’m the disciplinarian, and he’s very much free flowing,” she says. “But we both want her to explore and express herself, and it’s been really fun to watch her creativity blossom.”
As Halloween approaches, Felix says Camryn is “really excited” to dress up in her ghost costume.
“She’s at a really fun age where she’s got so much personality and talking about so many different things,” she says. “We’re having a lot of fun!”
source: people.com
