Marrying swimming icon Michael Phelps forced wife Nicole Johnson to give up on F1 dream – “When we started dating”

There are only a limited number of women in the limelight when it comes to Formula 1 and the sport was robbed of another candidate when Nicole Johnson decided to marry Michael Phelps.

That’s a pretty strange and confusing intro, isn’t it?

Don’t worry though, we’ll get to the entire story.

Nicole Johnson, who was primed for a career in marketing and communications, had always wanted to work as a Formula 1 correspondent.

However, she had to make some sacrifices along the way that meant this never came to fruition.

Having met Michael Phelps at the 2007 ESPY awards, Nicole was working with ESPN at the time.

She instantly hit it off with Phelps, who she later decided to marry.

However, this came at the cost of a potential career in F1, as she explained in an interview with Cosmopolitan.

“When I graduated from [the University of Southern California], I expected to be working in the sports field … my dream job would have been reporting on Formula One,” she said.

But Nicole was forced to make many changes after she realised that things were getting serious with Phelps.

“That went out the window, obviously, when Michael and I started dating — his career essentially came first. I moved to Ann Arbor so we could be together because he was going into Beijing,” she said.  

“I put what I expected to do with my life on hold, but that was all my own decision.”

What did Nicole end up doing?

Michael Phelps and Nicole Johnson Phelps. Credit: cosmopolitan.com

Nicole Phelps then went on to describe the alternate career that she decided to pursue.

“In terms of using my degree, I started working for YP; I signed on as director of communications. And now I’m volunteering with Michael’s foundation on their marketing side,” she said.

“In a really, really roundabout way, I’m back to where I wanted to be to start.”

Her priority was and remains to focus on her children.

While she said that she would be open to doing some form of reporting, it can’t come at the cost of her young ones.

Michael Phelps and his wife Nicole Johnson Phelps now have three children- Boomer, Beckett and Maverick.

Would you like to see her in the F1 paddock any time soon? Share your thoughts in the comments.

Read more: Corinna Schumacher primed “to start a new life” in Majorca after finalising deal for plush mansion

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