Celebrities | Jul 19, 2022 08:40 PM EDT

Lindsey Vonn Opens Up About Sleep Disorder Battle Following 1st Knee Surgery

By Alexandria Reeves

Lindsey Vonn finally broke her silence about the sleep disorder she has been facing since her first knee injury.

On Tuesday, Vonn sat down for an interview on the "TODAY" show and discussed her struggles with insomnia following a procedure to repair her torn LCL.

The National Sleep Foundation explains that nearly two-thirds of adults suffer insomnia for weeks - or even months - after their surgery.

"As an athlete, you know how important sleep is. I was lying in bed after surgery in a lot of pain and trying to sleep, and I couldn't. The anxiety behind it just got me down this really bad path of repetitively not sleeping," she told Craig Melvin.

The 37-year-old Olympic skier was forced to retire due to her knee injuries. Before leaving sports, she famously became a four-time World Cup champion and was hailed as one of the most decorated skiers in history.

She was also a former World Cup alpine ski racer of the U.S.A Ski Team before her retirement. And earned three Olympic medals - one of which is a gold - and eight World Championships acknowledgments (two golds).

Vonn won her first Olympic gold medal, the first one for an American ski racer, at the 2010 Winter Olympics. In 2016, she surpassed Ingemar Stenmark's 19 globes record from 1975 to 1984 before getting her 20th World Cup crystal globe title during the same year.

She added that she approaches her sleep like how she approached her skiing career. After trying hard to take different things to rectify the disorder, she finally found a treatment to help her have a comfortable and quality sleep.

Lindsey Vonn Also Struggled With Depression

Aside from the "TODAY" show, Vonn also detailed her life struggles in her memoir, "Rise." In the book, she talked about her battle with depression.

She shared more details about it in an interview with PEOPLE earlier this year.

"I've been dealing with it since I was 18. It's definitely been a roller coaster of a journey. I've come a long way, and I'm proud of that. But I'm a work in progress and I continue to work on myself every day," she said.

Vonn took antidepressants and followed the list of things that could help her stay positive. It includes journaling, working out, and spending her time with her friends.

As she spoke about it, the athlete expressed how happy she feels that the culture has changed and that people are already destigmatizing the things surrounding mental health issues.