Comeback Athlete of the Year – and a new pace in the Big Apple
So, too, is life.
Lee, 22, moved to New York City following Paris. She’s spent the last year enjoying opportunities from movie premieres to Fashion Week, working to figure out what comes next in life while still enjoying a much slower pace of life.
“Every single day, I walk outside and I’m inspired by something, which I love. I walk down the same street every single day, and I see something new that I didn’t see the time before,” Lee said of the city known as the Big Apple. “A typical day is … going to Pilates. Then, I have meetings usually throughout the day and then, I’ll go out for lunch or go for a walk, a bike ride, depending on how I feel. Maybe I’ll do some shopping, and then I come home, I watch a movie and I go to sleep.
“My days are pretty chill when I’m not travelling,” she concludes.
That hasn’t been often, lately, with Lee’s recent travels including a family vacation to Thailand, cut short by a surprise trip to Los Angeles for the ESPY Awards.
“I was actually supposed to be [in Thailand] for a whole month,” said Lee. “I was like, ‘I’m so sorry. I have to go to LA. This is for an ESPY, this is something I can’t miss.’ They were very supportive.”
Lee won Comeback Athlete of the Year there, with Dr. Marcia Faustin, who has cared for her since the kidney diagnosis more than two years ago, as her guest.
“She’s been my rock through all this,” said Lee of Faustin. “A lot of people see her as my doctor, but I more see her as a friend, a mentor, my therapist.
“I’m not easy to deal with,” she adds with a laugh. “And she definitely didn’t have to deal with me for as long as she did.”