April 14. 2009

Debbie and son Michael Phelps

Debbie Phelps, the mother of record holding Olympic medalist, Michael Phelps, defended her son on the Larry King Show last night, in the face of criticism, regarding his partying lifestyle.

According to that loser newspaper the New York Daily News, Phelps was spotted at Marquee nightclub in New York recently "dancing like a loon" and drinking vodka straight out of the bottle, while yelling for more “shots.” The paper claims he ordered four bottles of vodka.

His mother wrote a book on parenting titled "A Mother For All Seasons" and King questioned if her son’s partying and previous marijuana incident would hurt sales.

Michael Phelps' mom: My son has great values

(CNN) -- Debbie Phelps, the mother of swimming star Michael Phelps, who won a record eight gold medals in Beijing, is the author of a new memoir, "A Mother For All Seasons."...

Larry King: You have this terrific new book coming. If I do say so myself, it's inspiring. Yet (Thursday's) lead story in the "New York Daily News" gate crasher column -- I don't know who writes that -- "tsk, tsk," it says, "Michael Phelps, partying your face off in public is not the way to reclaim your good guy image. The Olympian was been laying relatively low since his bong smoking scandal in January was out in full force Tuesday night at New York City hot spot Marquis" -- I think is the name -- "Michael was definitely having a good time, an eyewitness tells us, drinking straight from a bottle of Grey Goose. When the DJ started playing MIA's 'Paper Planes,' he got up started dancing like a loon and kept on yelling 'shots.' Phelps definitely had enough alcohol on hand for several four round. He ordered four bottles of Vodka."

Is this tough for a mother? How do you react?

Debbie Phelps: It's one thing that I learn at a very early age is I don't get caught up in gossip columns. I know my son. He has great values, lots of integrity. That's what I think about that.

...

King: The question is, "Do you think these kind of stories might hurt the chance of people buying the book, which is what you want?"

Phelps: People are going to have to make that decision.

King: Do you think it might?

Phelps: Life is life. I do want to say, though, in reference to the Beijing Olympics, we, as a family, I think, made a great impression on the world, on the United States. My son has great love for me. It's a great bonding relationship. Families are very important. ...

http://www.cnn.com