US gymnast Simone Biles Was “Sad” ahead of Paris 2024 See More

Helpless Simone Biles Was Restricted to Crying After Jonathan Owens’ Viral Interview: “Can’t Clap Back”

The Olympic gymnast Simone Biles recently shared her initial reaction to the uproar in a candid conversation on the “Call Her Daddy” podcast with Alex Cooper. “So I thought it was hilarious at first, and then they hurt my feelings,” she confessed. The internet was ablaze with “divorce” chants, a cacophony of speculation and judgment that initially struck Biles as comical. Yet, as the waves of criticism continued to crash upon her shores, the laughter faded, replaced by a sense of helplessness. “One night I broke down,” Biles revealed, “and I’m like, why are you guys talking about my husband like this? Yeah. Like you don’t know him.”

She even admitted to shedding tears over the onslaught of negativity. “I’ve been in the limelight long enough where I can brush things off, have my little powwow about it,” she explained. “You’re not gonna know. I cried about it, but I’d be crying about some stuff, you know?” But beneath the tears lay a simmering frustration and a sense of powerlessness in the face of relentless online criticism. “But I’m also, I only cry about it because I can’t clap back. Just know that,” she asserted, a reminder that behind the public persona lies a woman grappling with the complexities of fame and public scrutiny, knowing she would eviscerate fans if she clapped back.

The 27-year-old is preparing for a third trip to the Olympics. The woman who will step onto the floor with the rest of the U.S. team during qualifying on July 28 is not the one who left Japan at the center of the sometimes uncomfortable conversation about mental health.

Biles married NFL player Jonathan Owens in the spring of 2023 and her busy personal calendar is dotted with the mileposts of a normal 20-something: from baby showers to weddings to overseeing the details of the house she and her husband are building in the Houston suburbs.

Simone Biles found herself unexpectedly thrust into the eye of a social media storm when her husband, Jonathan Owens, made some candid remarks during an episode of the “Pivot” podcast last year. The 28-year-old NFL safety ignited a firestorm by stating, “I always say that the men are the catch,” followed by the admission, “I didn’t know who she was at the time,” regarding Biles. These seemingly innocuous words plunged the NFL athlete into a whirlwind of scrutiny from Simone Biles’ fans online. Despite her reputation for addressing controversies head-on, Simone Biles notably remained silent amidst the whirlwind surrounding her relationship with Jonathan Owens.