Last December, Simone Biles and her husband Jonathan Owens went viral for a weird reason. They sat down for a filmed podcast interview, and Jonathan was asked a lot of questions about his courtship with Simone and how they met. Jonathan basically said that they met on Raya and he had no idea who Simone was, even though she had already won a million medals in gymnastics. He described Simone basically pursuing him and making the effort in the early stage of their relationship. He came across as a bit ungracious to Simone, especially when he claimed that HE was the catch and “I always say the man is the catch.”
Well, people were furious. And by that I mean women were pissed. There was a whole TikTok trend of women asking their husbands if they knew who Simone Biles was versus Jonathan (all husbands know who Simone is, only some knew Jonathan). People were yelling on social media for days. People were largely defending Simone as the undisputed goat, and calling out HER HUSBAND for minimizing Simone and her achievements. When Simone spoke to Vanity Fair for a cover story weeks afterwards, she was mad… at all of the people yelling at Jonathan. Apparently, she’s still mad about it too. Simone appeared on the Call Her Daddy pod and she talked about how people yelling at her husband hurt HER feelings.
Nearly four months after her husband’s viral interview, Simone Biles shared her reaction to the public criticism and people calling for her to divorce him.
“I thought it was hilarious at first, and then they hurt my feelings,” Simone said on the April 17 episode of the Call Her Daddy podcast. “And then one night, I broke down and I’m like, ‘Why are you guys talking about my husband like this? Like, you don’t know him. You don’t know who he is. And if anybody’s met him, they know he’s the sweetest guy and will do anything for anybody.’”
“That really hurt that they were talking about my husband like that,” she continued. “Because for me, it’s like, ‘Talk about me all you want, but don’t come for my family—never.’ Because I’ve been in the limelight long enough where I can brush things off, have my little powwow about it. You’re not going to know I cried about it, but I be crying about some stuff. But I only cry about it because I can’t clap back. Just know that.”
Looking back at that moment, Simone recalled being in the room for Jonathan’s interview.
“I was feeling great,” she told Call Her Daddy host Alex Cooper. “I was like, ‘My man just killed that.’” But then she read the social media reactions. “Whenever he did that interview, I thought everything was OK. And then I go on Twitter and everybody’s like, ‘Divorce this man! He’s mean!’ And I’m like, ‘He’s the sweetest. He praises the ground that I walk on.’ Like truly, I’ve never met a man like him.”
Simone then shared her take on why she felt people were upset about the interview. “First of all, that interview had nothing to do with me,” she noted. “It was all for him. So I think they were mad that he didn’t include me in the interview. But he has to have his moments too, and I let him have it.” The 27-year-old also said Ryan was the one to bring up the “catch” comment.
“By the way, he said it, but Ryan Clark said it so many times,” she shared. “Like, ‘Yeah, so you’re saying…’ It was kinda hyped up. You know boys, whatever, those conversations. They’re drinking their little tequila, whatever it is. So I think that was the thing. If it was that girls’ moment, it’s just different. That was like their fireside chat that they’re outside, hanging with the boys, whatever. There was nothing foul about it.”
I adore Simone but – lmao – maybe she should stay out of it? People were mad on her behalf, they were mad because her husband made it sound like she pursued him because HE is the catch, and he seemingly minimized her achievements. Now, if Simone is saying that she has a great marriage and Jonathan adores and cherishes her, then I agree, people need to move on. But absolutely none of all of that social media chatter was negativity directed at Simone. They wanted to ensure that Jonathan is treating her well.
#SimoneBiles husband says he didn’t know who she was when they met & says he’s the catch. pic.twitter.com/gnbUFerFot
— The Gworls Are Fighting (@baddietvv) December 21, 2023
Photos courtesy of Avalon Red, Instagram.