ET spoke to White at the iHeartRadio Music Awards Tuesday night.
Shaun White may have retired from professional snowboarding, but that doesn't mean he's ruling out a return to the snow. ET's Lauren Zima spoke to the Olympian at the 2022 iHeartRadio Music Awards Tuesday where he shared an update on life since retiring and revealed whether or not he'd ever come out of retirement.
"It's amazing. I've been having the best time," White gushed before sharing the advice his girlfriend, Nina Dobrev, gave him about retirement. "Nina, she was like, 'you gotta just surrender to it, you gotta just enjoy doing nothing and take those moments,' 'cause this is what I've worked so hard for, but it's been awesome, and I've been traveling doing trips and things."
Since stepping away from the sport after the 2022 Winter Olympics, White has spent his time in a much warmer climate.
"I was surprised with a little trip to Costa Rica, and it was incredible," he shared. "I got to surf, we were going through the jungle and doing all this stuff."
As for if he'd pull a Tom Brady and return to the sport? White didn't exactly rule it out, but he told ET he's good for now.
"So many people messaged me his like, 'I belong on the field,' I was like, 'ugh, do I belong on the snow?,'" White joked. "I don't know. I need a minute. I'm enjoying every bit of this, so, it would take me a bit longer to get re-motivated to do something like that, but no I'm gonna enjoy this. I'm done. I'm good."
"It's too cold. It's too cold, I'm from the beach in San Diego," he added. "I got up and I was like, 'ooh, what was I thinking?'"
A warm-weather sport might not be out of the question for White, whose dad told him to consider surfing.
"Something. Something warm. My dad wanted me to be a surfer," White revealed. "I'm actually named Shaun, after Shaun Thomson, a pro surfer. And I don't know, I picked a winner."
White shared there's no pressure to get back into the sport now that he's not competing, telling ET he can still enjoy the sport casually.
"Because I kinda get to do all the same stuff, but there's no real pressure. There's no one like about to give me a score for something, or there's some situation where I'm really nervous or anxious, which is great," White shared. "I understand for someone like Tom Brady or anyone else, where I don't know, what you do go play a pickup game at the local YMCA? Like, what do you do? At least for snowboarding skateboarding, surfing, you can still go enjoy that sport casually. So, I think I'm gonna enjoy this new role."
Retirement wasn't the only thing White gushed over, he also dished on his "supportive" relationship with Dobrev.
"We just met in an interesting way and we're both pretty driven and motivated, so you kinda understand that about one another," he explained. "She's off in Europe right now shooting a movie, I'm here doing my thing, we're gonna meet up when we can, and there's just that understanding there. We can support each other."
"She really helped me get through this winter season, and now I'm so excited to just be the guy in Europe at the house, just cleaning and cooking, whatever I gotta do," White continued. I'm gonna support her. So, we kinda do that tradeoff, which is nice."
One thing he won't go back to? That long, curly hair he famously rocked back in the day.
"I tried at one point, and I remember it like getting to this length," he said pointing to just below his ears. "Just like, 'I can't do it. I can't do it.'"
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