Suzy Favor Hamilton, a three-time Olympic track athlete, said she is now reclaiming her life after a bipolar diagnosis allowed her to shed her double life as a high-priced Las Vegas call girl.
Favor Hamilton, who has been making the media rounds to promote her new book "Fast Girl:
A Life Spent Running from Madness," told Fox News this week how she went from a married mother to an escort. It started when she was misdiagnosed with depression and given a medication, which seemed to fuel her reckless behavior, she said.
"Zoloft made me feel incredible," Favor Hamilton said to Fox. "I was on top of the world. I was elated. I had no inhibitions. I started to become delusional during that time. It was only until I outed by a tabloid that I discovered with doctor care that I was bipolar."
Favor Hamilton said, though, that she blames herself instead of doctors who treated her.
"I take full responsibility for what I did," she said. "I'm not a victim here. I didn't know I was bipolar. It was the perfect storm so I don't want to blame anyone for it, but I know it contributed to that experience without a doubt."
"I knew what I was doing, but I don't feel shame because I don't want to feel shame from having mental illness and I don't shame the other women in that industry if this is the choice they want to do with their body, they have every right to make that decision. So, I'm not shaming them at all and I have friends in that industry to this day, and they're good people."
Favor Hamilton told ESPNW that it was her husband of nearly 25 years, Mark Hamilton, who became the inspiration she needed to overcome bipolar disorder. The couple also has a 10-year-old daughter.
"Let's face it, this is not a normal challenge to get over," she said. "And we'll never completely be over it. But my husband chooses to focus on the illness, which is an inspiration, I think, to everybody . . . He was the driving force who told me, 'You are not going to get better until you forgive yourself.'"
Favor Hamilton now splits time between Madison, Wisconsin, and Malibu, California, where she is a yoga instructor and credits new medication, therapy, and exercise for her newfound peace of mind.
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