Simone Biles Is Unbothered By Backlash Over Her Husband's Remarks
He said he was "the catch" in the relationship.
Olympic gymnast Simone Biles and Houston Texans football star Jonathan Owens have had a whirlwind romance. The dynamic duo went from lovestruck sweethearts to husband and wife in just a couple years, but while their love story has seemed picture-perfect on the outside, it hasn’t been without some struggles. Everything seemed to be smooth sailing for the pair after they first linked up in 2020 — and they have more than enough lovey-dovey Instagram posts detailing their head-over-heels romance — but there’s been a bit of backlash recently.
Considering both 26-year-old Biles and 28-year-old Owens are world-class athletes killing it in their respective sports, it’s no shocker that they gravitated toward each other. Owens told Texas Monthly Biles’ grind as an athlete is “intoxicating,” and Biles can’t stop gushing herself. “He's always so supportive,” she confessed to People in June 2021. “He's the best because he also goes through it [as an athlete], so he knows exactly how it is in the process. It's been amazing to have him.”
But the couple has had some rough times, too. Although their love for each other has always been strong, they did face some backlash in December 2023 after Owens made comments about their relationship on a podcast. Here’s the full tea on how Biles and Owens got together and went from each other’s biggest cheerleaders to loved-up life partners.
March 2020: Simone & Jonathan Met
Ah, March 2020 — the end of normalcy, but the beginning of Owens and Biles’ relationship, which kicked off after the two first matched on Raya. “We ended up hanging out right before the pandemic,” Owens revealed in a June 2021 interview with Texas Monthly. “It was one of the few times in her life where everything was just shut off and she couldn’t do anything. So we used it to get to know each other — really get to know each other. It created our bond and made it stronger. Now I’m so thankful."
Interestingly enough, Owens claims he had no idea his future GF was as big of a deal as she is. He just thought she was “pretty good” at gymnastics, but Biles *loved* Owens’ cluelessness, apparently.
“I didn’t know who she was,” he admitted. “I just hadn’t heard of her, and when I told her that, that’s one of the things she liked.”
August 2020: They Went IG Official
It’s not totally clear when Biles and Owens exited the talking stage and entered official BF-GF territory, but the power couple went Instagram official with the cutest selfie ever in August 2020.
“It’s just us,” Biles captioned the post (throwing in a brown heart for good measure). Owens replied with four red hearts, marking the beginning of an era — aka Biles and Owens’ love for posting adorable snaps of each other regularly.
February 2021: They Celebrated Valentine’s Day
Biles and Owens already proved themselves to be madly in love with one another before the ~month of love~, but their all-out Valentine’s Day celebration reaffirmed how mutually obsessed the sweethearts were.
On IG, Biles posted pics of her and her man smooching by an extravagant balloon and lights display. Her Insta story at the time also revealed they shared a romantic dinner for two, along with a bedspread topped with roses that said “I ♥️ U.”
March 2021: They Took An Anniversary Trip
March 2021 marked a full year since Biles and Owens first connected, and the month also marked Biles’ 24th birthday. (Yup, she’s a Pisces babe!) So what better way to celebrate than with a couples’ trip to the tropics? After 365 days of romance, the lovebirds jetted off to Belize, one of Biles’ favorite places in the world — she even holds citizenship in the Central American country thanks to her biological mother, who grew up there.
She captioned one of the numerous photos she posted of her and Owens on vacay: “I love you more than I love Belize and that's a lot.”
June 2021: Jonathan Saw Simone Compete For The First Time
As the pandemic became increasingly manageable and outside opened up again, couples who cuffed up during lockdown finally got the opportunity to experience life’s biggest moments together. For Owens and Biles, that meant watching each other conquer their sports. But in June 2021, Owens *at last* had the opportunity to see his GOAT girlfriend do her thing IRL.
“What an amazing experience 👏🏽,” he said in an IG post of him and Biles post-competition. “First time getting to watch you compete in person and you didn’t disappoint. It’s so cool that I get to watch you do what you love, and be the best at that‼️ I’m so proud of you my lil champ 🥰❤️ Trials up next and you already know I’m there!! Love you baby ❤️❤️”
February 2022: They Got Engaged
It took less than two years of dating for Biles and Owens to know they’d found their perfect matches. Biles announced the engagement on Instagram on Feb. 15, 2022. “THE EASIEST YES,” she wrote under pics of the proposal. “I can’t wait to spend forever & ever with you, you’re everything I dreamed of and more! let’s get married FIANCÉ.”
April 2023: They Got Married
Owens and Biles became husband and wife on April 22, 2023. Biles shared a bunch of photos of the intimate courthouse ceremony, captioning the romantic pics, “Officially Owens.”
The official wedding ceremony may have been small, but Biles and Owens made up for it a couple weeks later by throwing a big, destination wedding with all their friends and family in Cabo, Mexico.
December 2023: Their Relationship Faced Some Backlash
After three and a half years of the picture-perfect romance, there was bound to be some struggles eventually. On Dec. 19, Owens appeared on an episode of The Pivot podcast, where he spoke about how his relationship with Biles began and how he views their dynamic.
When asked how he “pulled” Biles, Owens responded, “It’s really how’d she pull me, man.” He went on to say he sees himself as “the catch” in the relationship, and reiterated the point he’s made before about how he had no clue who Biles was prior to dating her. “I never really paid attention to gymnastics,” he claimed.
The comments didn’t sit well with fans on social media, and amid the backlash, users dug up old tweets of Owens’ during the 2012 Olympics, which confirmed he did have an interest in Olympic gymnastics years before he met Biles.
But Biles remained unbothered by the backlash. “Are y’all done yet?” she posted after a couple days of the social media uproar.
To really send her point home, Biles shared a romantic photo kissing Owens in front of their Christmas tree on Dec. 25. Clearly, these two are prepared to weather any storm.
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