Simone Biles celebrated the New Year…asleep. The Olympic gymnast, 26, attended a friend’s wedding only to drift into her dreams hours before midnight. On her Instagram story, Biles shared a repost from her friend Kayla Simone, who snapped a photo of her holiday snooze.
“Not this b—-h inviting me to fly cross country for a NYE wedding only for her to be asleep before 10:30,” the friend captioned the picture. Biles added, “I am soooooo sorry,” in her repost, and both women included laughing emojis. Biles husband, Jonathan Owens, did not attend — the Green Bay Packers safety had a Sunday Night Football game in Wisconsin against the Minnesota Vikings.
It was the first game in a few weeks that Biles had to miss. After her gymnastics season slowed down, the 23-time world champion has been up in Wisconsin to watch Owens play multiple times in November and December, including his Dec. 3 game against the Kansas City Chiefs, where Taylor Swift was also in attendance to support her boyfriend Travis Kelce. The Olympic gold medalist and Owens wed on April 22, 2023, at a courthouse in Houston. A few weeks later, they threw an extravagant second wedding in Mexico.
Ever since their romance began in March 2020, Owens has supported Biles — especially following her decision to withdraw from several events at the 2021 Tokyo Olympics. During an episode of Biles’ docuseries, Simone vs Herself, Owens said that one of the things he was most impressed by was Biles’ commitment to her craft.
“Her work ethic was the first thing that caught my eye. I’d never watch gymnastics before, when I first met I honestly didn’t know who she was … The coolest thing for me is that I get to witness someone who is literally at the pinnacle of their sport, it’s motivating just to see that and the impact that she has on people,” he said. Biles and Owens first met on the dating app Raya in 2020, and the gymnast made the first move.
“He would say I slid into his DMs,” Biles told WSJ. Magazine in July 2021. “I saw him, and I was like, ‘Oh, he’s pretty cute,’ so I said hi … and then I saw that he was in the Houston area, so we started chatting a little bit, and then we went to hang out a week or two later.” Now that Owens is playing for the Green Bay Packers, Biles has opened up about taking their relationship long distance so soon after tying the knot.
In an interview on the Today show in October, the athlete shared that she is enjoying watching her new husband from the sidelines. “It’s been really fun supporting what he loves to do,” Biles said of Owens during the interview. “Obviously he’s in Green Bay right now. My season just ended, so I’m super excited to get out there to Green Bay for the holidays to support him.”
She also shared how her perspective on gymnastics has changed since getting married. “Gymnastics is just something I get to come in and have the privilege of doing. I don’t feel like it’s the end all be all anymore, as before I kind of felt like that,” she explained at the time. “I get to go home to my husband, to my dogs, to my house and all of the things. So it feels really good.”
