What is up, Daddy Gang? It is your founding father, Alex Cooper with Call Her Daddy. Oh my God. Where are you?

Dude, finally. Thank you for coming. I'm going to go finish my searching. Yes, go.

Good seeing you. This is insane. Oh my God. Oh my God. Gorgeous. Simone Biles. Welcome to Call Her Daddy. I feel like we've been waiting this for so long. Okay, we need to tell the Daddy Gang the story. So I would say, I don't know, maybe a couple of years ago, I don't remember who DMed who. No, I remember. You tagged me in a story that you were watching Call Her Daddy, and I lost my mind because I was like, Wait, she listens? And then I started pressuring. I'm like, Oh, my God, I need to do better. I need to impress Simone. But it was such a cool full circle moment that we started DMing, and we had this DMing relationship here and there. And then when NBC and I started working together for the Olympics, I remember we sat down and they were like, Okay, what person do you want to interview? And immediately I was like, Simone. And of course, they're like, L-O-L. That's so cute. Of course, everyone wants to interview Simone I'm like, No, I need to interview her. They're like, Do you know her? I'm like, Kind of. We're pen pals like that, and now we're finally here.

Thank God. It's perfect. Okay, so we were just at your parents' gym. Watching from previous documentaries that you've done to watching it all get built to you now having your own gym and how supportive your parents have been, what does that support mean to you?

For me, it means the world because being adopted since I was six years old to now. It's been a long road and journey career-wise and just who Simone is instead of Simone Biles. So it's been a long journey, but their support means the world to me. They've never really missed a competition, anything besides 20 Olympics, 2021, whatever we want to call it. That's the only thing they missed because they weren't allowed to go because of COVID. But other than that, they've supported everything that I've ever wanted to do, all of that stuff since I was a young girl.

When you say the word Simone Biles to the world, I think everyone immediately thinks Olympian, the goat. I think there's a lot of people that probably don't know where you came from and the backstory of your life hasn't always just been this picture-perfect situation. When you were three, you went into foster care. Yes. Can you share just a little bit what was going on at home that led to that?

I was only three years old, so I learned that a little bit whenever I was older. But drug and alcohol abuse. I just don't think that she was around too much and people would call CPS or CSI in about. That's what happened. That's when foster care came and got us and placed us into a foster home. The only thing that I remember was just being anxious when we would go to sleep because my brother was in the room next door. I think we were just always used to sleeping together or close or whatever because he's not that much older, and mind you, we were three. I just had anxiety problems. We were in a girls' room. They had girls' rooms and boys' rooms. From my knowledge that sometimes during the night or during the day, they would take kids out and replace them into a different home. That's how siblings were separated. So I was just so terrified that if I woke up, my brother wouldn't be there. Even though I was with my sister, I was like, Oh, we all have to stay together. That thing, even from a young age. So I'd always sneak in and go sleep with him because I'm like, Oh, this is my brother.

Because I didn't understand the separation whenever at night time. Fast forward a couple of years later, I was at gym and I knew I was adopted. From the moment we were adopted, my family told us, You guys are adopted. And I was like, Cool, okay. Right. Great. I don't know what that means. And then they had asked us if we wanted to call them Mom and Dad. And from my knowledge, I was like, Perfect. Why wouldn't I? And so it was just super strange to me because I remember this day at gym, we were talking about our families, and they had said something, and I was like, Oh, well, I'm adopted. It felt like everything in the room in the gym stopped. They were like, What? You're adopted? Because that was not to their knowledge. I was like, Why is everyone freaking I was like, Well, you know my parents, those are my grandparents. My uncles that I call my brother now, those were my uncles. I just remember we all sat on the floor, practice stopped because everybody needed to know the story. The coaches were intrigued. Everybody, they were like, You're adopted? I was just like, Well, yeah, aren't you?

Where'd you come from?

I'm just so confused. It was normal for you.

When they say the stork brings the babies, I'm like, How did you get here? Stop.

You weren't picked? You weren't in a house, and then you were-You were adopted?

That was shocking to me.

Did your parents ever talk to you about your biological parents?

Kind of funny because no, because I'm not sure the relationship, maybe because we didn't ask either, but we knew who it was as we got older, Shannon, and that's what we just addressed her as. But I knew once I got older, that that's my dad's daughter. Then that's also crazy explaining to people because I'm like, My biological mom is also my dad's daughter, and I call him dad. It's just like, everybody's hella confused.

It's a whole family tree that you're like, Don't make me explain it. My parents are my parents. I got chosen. Feeling blessed. Let's move on.

Yes, literally. I'm like, If you think too hard, it just gets jumbled.

So your grandparents adopted you at 6? Yes. Now they're your parents. Yes. Boom. How do you think that did change, though, the of your life?

Everything. I have no idea where I would be without being adopted. Unfortunately, I might end up the same statistic that other foster kids, unfortunately, end up. At 18 years old, you get kicked out of a foster home, so then you're homeless. If you don't get into college and stuff, which most people don't graduate high school, you're on the streets. I fear for what my life would have looked like. Wow.

I mean, it's incredible to see me what you have all built together as a family. I love how in the beginning, you just quickly were like, And then when I'm at the gym, back up. Okay, you are the greatest of all time. Yes. Let's talk about when you first got into gymnastics. Do you remember? Did you just think of it as a hobby? Were you passionate about it? How did you get into gymnastics?

We got into gymnastics, I say we as me and my sister, from a daycare field trip. Again, I believe everything happens for a reason. In this day, we're here in Texas. Nobody knows. We're here in Texas. We were supposed to go on a field trip to the Oil Ranch. How country, how Texas is that? Then we wind up at the gym. It's because it was storming that day. They're like, That's an outside activity. Where are we going to take the kids? I feel like God was like, Take the kids to the gym and see what happens. We end up at the gym and I see these girls, and mind you, I've never seen gymnastics in my life. They're flipping around all of the things. Me, six years old, I'm like, I could do that. Not knowing. I just feel like I could do that. I'm super intrigued. Somebody does something, I do something, and then the coaches look over and they're like, Can you do that again? What did you just do? Have you ever been to gymnastics? I was like, No, this is my first time. I did it again. They're looking at my body build.

If I show you pictures whenever I was younger, I was built. I was ripped for no reason. That's just how it was built. They were like, You've never done a sport. Your body stature is made for gymnastics. They're like, That's not normal. They sent a letter home, and I gave it to my parents. My mom saw it, and she was like, Okay, do you want to do the one with the four events, or do you want to do tumbling? Then maybe you'll go to cheerleading. I was like, I want to do the one with the four events. That's how I started.

It is truly fascinating that some people you hear that are so great. Tom braided, for example. You think of Tom, and they're like, Oh, he was a little awkward, and it's crazy that Tom can even run He's done the way he can. For you, it's the complete opposite where you walked into the gym and people were like, Who is that girl? You had never done any of this before because I was going to ask you, was there ever once you started an aha moment that you were like, Holy shit, I'm actually really good at this?

Never for me. Everybody else always saw it. Since I was always the smallest in my class, the shortest, I thought they would always be like, Oh, my God, she's so good. She's so cute. She has so much talent. I just thought it was like what your grandmother does when she around every year like, Oh, you look so good. I thought, really, that's what it was. I'm like, You're just saying that because I'm so short. It took a while for me to really lean into my talent and to realize, Oh, my gosh, I could do something or be someone. Because once I started, I did it for fun. Nobody in my family has ever done gymnastics, so they have no idea where the talent came from. My siblings were really good at track, but that's it.

Were you in school? Did people make comments about how short Were that...

It seems like you were- Sure, yes, because you could always grow. They were like, We're just waiting for her growth spurt, which I'm still waiting. I tell God, Finish it when I'm done with gymnastics. Maybe we're not done yet. The doctor probably thinks my growth rates are closed, but that's a different story.

I love it. You're like, It's going to happen.

But other than that, they all saw it. They would say, They gave me this nickname, Soulja, because my muscles and all of this stuff. One time, I beat this kid up on the playground because he said, Oh, I bet you can't beat me up. I was always the kid that, If you said I couldn't do something, I'm doing it. I think I'm still that way. I'm doing it.

I was going to say, I feel like getting into this sport, any sport at the competitive level that you're dealing with, you have to have such discipline and drive And I'm wondering, where did that come from, this competitiveness in you?

I don't know. But if I had to pinpoint, my parents were very hard workers. Me and my sister were pretty much always on top of our schoolwork, and we were just self-driven. I I don't know where it came from, but I think it started from my parents just saying how hard they work, everything that they've done for us, for our siblings. It's something that was a little bit taught in that nature, too.

When you do compete at this level, I know that for athletes, it's not just you committing your life. It's your entire family has to get on board. It's a lifestyle change. When do you think you guys really all decided, Oh, as a family, we're going for this?

Probably the whole family started making sacrifices when my practices started going late, and then dinner time started to change, or they would have to leave stuff in the oven or on the stove, and they were like, Okay, she She's really doing this. But none of us knew how far it was going to take us to end up where we are. We just thought like, Oh, she's doing these flips. She likes it. She enjoys it. As long as she's having a good time, we're going to let her continue. Because my parents were always the first to say, If you want to quit, let us know. We'll pull you out.

Because you went to public school till eighth grade, right? Correct. Then you officially did homeschooling starting high school. Did you get to have any typical teenage experiences? Did you go to prom?

None. The first time I danced with a boy was on dancing with the stars with Sasha. It was after the Olympics. I was 19 years old. I remember he got in my face, grabbed me, and I was like, Oh, freaking out.

Simone.

No.

No.

Talk What about a culture shock.

I was about to say the fact... I need to hear if there's anyone in the world that could say that statement, The first time I ever dance with the boy was on dancing with the stars. Icon. It's giving only you. Are you kidding? Okay, so you never got... Did you have sleepovers?

Some, but then at that time, we had moved 40 minutes away. If we ever wanted to have a sleepover, it was more like, your mom drops us off, your dad brings her because the distance. So Other than that, we'd have some best friends come sleep over. But then it was like, okay, if you stay around Friday, you're not leaving till Sunday. We had sleepovers, but then again, it started turning into, Sorry, I have practice on Saturday, so then go to the gym, we'll drop you off. That thing.

It's like your life revolved around it.

Everything revolved around gymnastics.

If people don't play sports, I look back, I'm like, Okay, can I relate to that? I'm like, Yeah, growing up, most of my friends were just soccer friends because you're just becoming family and they're like your sisters.

I think in middle school, that's when the insecurities started and I became a shell of myself. But I feel like nobody really understood why I was racing to my locker to get my gym equipment. Then at the time, our housekeeper would take me to practice and all of this stuff. So nothing I did at that point was relatable. It was very hard to not make friends, but to just keep them up because I couldn't hang out with them on the weekends. I couldn't go to Friday night live. I couldn't do anything on the weekends. I was going to a gymnastics meet, I was doing this, that, the other. So to me, it was like, Let me get my school work done. I have three friends at the loser table, and I'll do my stuff at the gym. It was really hard to relate because they're doing who knows what.

They're texting boys on AIM and you're in the gym.

I don't know what that is. The only boy I know is Jim.

No, literally. Did you resent it at all? Did you ever be like, Why am I doing this? Why am I doing this to At that point, no, because I still love to do it.

I had all my friends at the gym, and that's all I needed at that point. But going into high school, I was mad at my parents. Mad as hell. You figure it out why I can't do school and gym. You figure it out. Some of my friends could do it because their states allowed that. At the time, I started doing national team camps, and we missed so much school. I didn't have a choice, but California as long as you did your schoolwork, and I can't speak on the rules of the laws now, but it's just how it was back then. They could miss however, as long as they got their schoolwork done out of it. But Texas law states you can only miss X amount before they fail you, even if you do your schoolwork. So that just wasn't an option for us. It's not like we were ever going to move or do anything because Texas has the best gymnastics. That's what it was. But I wanted to go to the football games. I wanted to go to the school dances. I wanted to. But it was okay that I didn't because I knew I wasn't confident enough in my body to show my muscles, because at that time, I wore a lot of hoodies, and I didn't want my muscles to show because then at that point, I'm stronger than all the boys because they haven't bulked up yet.

I'm just like, Hey. Nobody really understood, so it was okay.

Right. I get what you're saying. It's almost like it was okay for you to escape to the gym because you felt more confident there.

Everybody had muscles, and we all looked the same. I do remember one of my friends snuck me into high school one day, and I got to go around with her to each class, and I thought that was the best day ever. I was like, I'm in a high school, and her teachers just played along with it. They were like, If the principal catches us, who knows what we'll do? But I did a whole entire day with her, and that was so cool.

Well, it's incredible to look back, and as much as you sacrificed, the sacrifice has clearly paid off. Because when you were 16 is when your winning streak just really began. You won three consecutive World Championships, and then you went to dominate the Rio Olympics. When you look back at that time of your life, what does that success mean to you?

Well, to me, I thought that's where it ended. I was like, Oh, my gosh, how have I reached my greatest achievement in life at 19? I was scared for the rest of my life. How can I beat this? How can I top this? What the heck am I going to do? I won the Olympics at 19. To It's going to be a shithole from here on out.

We're going down now.Yeah..

No, literally, because most people don't get to go to more than one Olympics or do those things. So at one point, I was like, I did it. This is my greatest. This is the greatest thing that I wanted to achieve in my life. And then I was like, I did it at 19.

You almost were excited for two seconds to then be like, Can I even actually enjoy this? Because does this mean it's over? Yes.

And so I was scared. But at that time, you couldn't really tell me anything because I was like, Oh, my gosh. I did it, and I knew as soon as that happens, we've watched previous Olympics, so we know how their lives change after that. I knew it was going to be different, but I knew it was going to be different. Every day at the Olympics, my followers go up 10,000, and then I had a million. Then I was like, What the heck is happening and why are people following me? At that point, I was like, Yes, this is my greatest achievement because I've been vying for this since I was six years cold, per se. But then I was like, But you all haven't watched the come up, so why do you care? This is my greatest achievement. Cool. It was weird to me that people were following me because I had won the Olympics, because to me, that was the biggest thing. But I was like, How's that the biggest thing for you to follow me because I won this. It was weird. Then I was like, Okay, I really need to find out who I am without gymnastics because I didn't think I was going to do it again.

When the rise really started, I think about the pressure that people put on you. It's like, Oh, my God, you're so great. We all are looking at you. You're Simone Biles. You just did the Olympics. You're thriving. You're getting gold. Did you ever feel like you weren't allowed to have moments of weakness?

A lot of the time because on a lot of the teams, a lot of the girls looked up to me. So I felt like I was that strong person that everybody was like, Oh, my God, Simone's so strong. She has a strong personality. If you had something to describe me as, strong went before that word. I felt like I could never show a sign of weakness, but I just always felt like I was the strong one for my friends, the strong ones for my family, the strong ones. So it was just like, I got to a point where it was so hard for me to cry or show emotion. But I also think that came from gymnastics. It's like, throw all that out the window, work on what you need to work on, and then outside of the gym, whatever happens, happens. So yeah, it was weird, different, difficult. But at that point, again, I'm only 19 years old.

Well, that's what I was going to say, though, Simone. When you're saying, I had to be strong, I'm technically the older one at the gym. I've now gone to the Olympics. I know what I'm doing. You're strong for your family. Who did you go to to say, Hey, I'm stressed. I have all these followers. I have the world.

A lot of the time, if it wasn't my sister, because we're very, very, very close. If it wasn't her, silent cries. I didn't like to see anybody. I didn't want anybody to ever see me cry. Why? Because I didn't want them to show or see that I was a sign of weakness. So it was a lot of silent nights where I would cry because even after the Olympics, I went home and We went on tour and stuff, but there would be a lot of times where I felt so alone because how many kids can relate? 19 years old, you won the Olympics, and then you have the weight of the world on your shoulders. I'm still learning. It's just like, now Now I'm a celebrity. I don't know what I want to do with my life. I don't know if I can do this again. Everybody's cheering me on. It's just like, it was an overnight sensation, so to speak, even though people that watch gymnastics, watched for the four years prior, watched my whole entire career. But to just be thrown out there, I was confused. But then somebody told me it was lonely at the top.

I would relay that message in my head. And it was positive sometimes. Like, yeah, it's lonely at the top. And then other times it felt hard and heavy.

You're like, I don't know if I want to be at the top if it's this lonely, if it's this isolating.

Yes, because I'm only 19. So we wanted our lives to be as normal as possible. I think that's why I'm so grounded with my family and all, because we never wanted it to take over because we've seen how that can happen. But again, I was just a kid. I was homeschooled. I didn't have much.

Well, as I'm listening to you talk about this, too, it's like there's so much pressure that is put on young athletes. Then when you are the star athlete at a young age, there's more pressure to grow up and become an adult soon because everything's riding on you. It feels like in your own, you're under a microscope. Yeah. And then you have the press looking at you and fans, and you're like, Now I need to become media-trained, and now I need to know how to just handle myself again at 19 years old. And something that I'm realizing you're saying, talking about how you had to bear a lot of this on your own with all of your success, then there was behind the scenes so much fucking going on. And in 2018, you spoke out about the abuse that you endured from the USA Gymnastics physician. I'm so curious, Simone. Can you talk about your decision to open up about that?

The main reason I did that is because a lot of people follow me. A lot of people go on my platform platforms. I've always been an open and honest book from the very beginning, and I've always decided I'm not going to let anything ever change me because this is who I am, so take it or leave it. But I've always been an open book. I was talking to my friend the other day, and she was like, I met you in three minutes. We went from talking about this to deep stuff. It's just like a lot of people, when they meet me, they can feel that. But after that, I decided to speak out because I know it could help a lot of people. If I could shine a light on whatever that is, then I'm going to do that. But I wanted to be in a good enough place and to have the proper help lined up before I spoke out because that stuff was so traumatizing, and I truly don't understand how I did what I did under those circumstances and how I put on a face. But at some point, as an athlete, you are an athlete, so you understand.

It's like we normalize a lot of stuff, but then we push off emotions. It's like, we do so much.

It's this like, you can create this false narrative in your head of what you should endure and what's normal.

That's all you know. That's all we knew. We thought it was normal because We're all homeschooled there together.

You're all going through the same thing.

If we're talking to each other and if this is happening to you, this is happening to you. Okay. Cool. It's normalized.

What we're talking about also is there's so many different things forms of abuse, but the abuse of power is... It's such a tricky situation, and we see it so often. But we're having a conversation about, one, someone that you were told to trust, but also by an organization that was supposed to protect you and foster your career. And so there's so much, yes, abuse, mentally, physically, emotionally. But I'm curious because I think sometimes when people look at you, it's like, Simone Biles, the face of mental health, and she's the best in this. But it's like, on the real day-to-day, this shit is fucking awful to go through, and people weren't with you on the day-to-day. Once you decided to speak out about this, how did processing this trauma show up in your day-to-day life?

At that point, I was diagnosed with depression and anxiety, and I knew I was depressed, but I hit it so well because I train 34 hours a week. So what do I always do whenever I'm at home? I'm in my room laying down, resting, resting, resting. But I knew this resting was very different. It was hard to get out of bed. It was hard to do anything. It felt like Everything felt heavy in the end of the world. And again, a lot of sleepless, crying nights. Why me? Because it's just like, and then you play victim. And then it seems like, again, nobody can relate to you. Nobody's listening. Nobody is, I trusted this person, this, that, the other. It just felt very, I wouldn't even say dehumanizing, but it felt like I held a lot of the guilt that wasn't mine to hold. The fucking worst. Yes. I think that was the hardest for me to process. I learned through therapy, yes, this is not my guilt to hold. But to convince myself that, because it's easier said than done. Totally. But to convince myself that, it was really, really hard. And I think I'm still working on that in therapy.

It's gotten a lot better, and I feel comfortable, and now I can have conversations and stuff like that. But yeah, I have good days. I have bad days. But I also know that that doesn't define me.

It does not define It doesn't define you at all. It's an experience you went through. I do think it's unfortunate how so few people understand, though. This is something that is a part of you for the rest of your life. It doesn't define you. But when people are like, Okay, it's never over.

Yes. I think as an athlete, that was the hardest thing for me to process, too, because if you get injured, you go to the doctor and they're like, okay, three to six months or three weeks or whatever. This is like, years. I'm like, why do I not feel better? If a doctor could sit down and tell me, I'd be great because I thought like, oh, three to six months, three to six weeks. It's like, we're always on timeline with injuries. So whenever it's a mental injury or a physical injury that you're going through like that with depression and anxiety and nobody can give you a timeline, it feels like it's never ending. I was like, I just don't understand. I should be fine by now.

Doesn't that bring up sometimes there's shame that comes with it? You're like, Why the fuck is this not going right?

Yes, because it's like, I'm not going to want to be in 10 years talking about this and somebody's going to be like, God, here she goes again.

But I do think you talking about it, Simone, and that's why I think it's really important how you said, this does not define you. But it's also important to show people when people are like, that's so sad that happened to someone, and then they move on with their lives. This is something that stays with people forever. To neglect the conversation of acting like it didn't happen, it did. And you are who you are, but it's a piece of you, and it's a part of you. I also think that's such an interesting comparison. If you mess up your ankle, it's visible, you can feel it. You can't ignore it. With trauma, emotionally, you can shut that shit down, and you can bury it so far.

And that's the thing we're so good at as athletes at doing that, too. And my therapist is like, Just take it out of the box. Roll it out on the floor. It's fine because we're so good at depressing everything. So it's like, God. For so long, it's worked until it didn't anymore. That's what you saw at the Olympics, a big old spill. I was like, to me, I couldn't understand why that happened either because I'm like, gymnastics? What the heck is going on? Why is this happening? Then my therapist is like, Well, we know why it happened. I still have conversations with her to this day, and I'm like, Hey, look, it's Olympic year. Did we figure out why that happened? She's like, Simone, we figured out why this has happened. I was like, Are we sure?

Are we sure? Because it can't happen again.

Yes, but it wasn't just a mental injury that happened called the twisties. It's compressing all of this shit for so many years It just unfolded. You can't compress trauma that much longer. I hate to be the person that blames it on something else because I'd rather blame it on, I have a hang now. Sorry, you can't bolt. Or whatever it is.

You're like, I wish I could say money.

Yes. At that point, after I came out about it, they're like, She doesn't want to lose. I was like, First of all, I almost broke my leg, but it's, thankfully, I didn't break my leg. I called my agent and I was like, This is a mental injury that they can't see. Do they want me to wear a helmet? Because they couldn't see it, so they couldn't relate to it. They couldn't grasp it. It's not something that I could tell them so that they could feel like, If I broke my ankle, they'd be like, Should I broke my ankle before, too? I know how that feels. Of course, you can't vault. But for a mental injury, nobody could understand it. So there were so many narratives thrown around, so many different excuses that were pushed onto me. I think the shittiest part of all at the Olympics, I have very good senses, and I knew something was going to go wrong. I couldn't pinpoint what it was or when it was going to happen, but I just had this feeling deep down, this is not going to go the way I want it to, and I don't know why, but I have this deep, deep feeling like something's going to happen.

To people that aren't familiar, yes. You went to the Tokyo Olympics, and I'm curious, So you're saying you knew. When do you think you knew? Where were you mentally going into the Tokyo Olympics?

I don't know, but I could feel something. And I felt myself, besides all the pressure, because we deal with that as elite athletes. We have different tactics about how we're going to carry ourselves and how we're going to do whatever so that we can still compete to the best of our ability. But there was something that I could feel that was going to be out of my control. I didn't know when it was going to happen or what was going to happen. But I felt strange. But I'm not going to tell anybody on the team that I'm a veteran. It's everyone's first time at the Olympics. They're looking up to me, and I'm guiding them, taking them through the route. But nothing about that Olympics was normal anyways. We're having a pandemic. The whole world is shut down. Nothing about the Olympic Games was normal. And I feel for those athletes that might not ever be able to go to another Olympic Games because that is not what the Olympics is about. In 2016, it was so much fun. The camaraderie, the team spirit, everybody's rooting for everybody. I feel like that's world peace. Time stops.

It doesn't matter what color you are, what religion you are, what you support, what you don't support. Everybody comes together to support their athletes and their country. So it was just very strange, but I could feel something like the wires weren't connected. The red, the yellow, off.

Something was off. And in training up to Tokyo, did you feel that, too?

A little bit, but we had been training so hard, and we were prepared. We were so prepared. I've never been so prepared for an event in my life, obviously, besides 2016. But this felt like a different prepared, and it felt a little bit more calm.

Isn't that so crazy as I'm listening to you? You're like, I'm on the plane ride to Tokyo. Video, and I knew. I knew something.

It was just like, was weird.

And you didn't know when. But that's, again, the body just telling you something ain't right. Simone, we're not good. And you're like, push it down. We are fine.

And to me, I was like, It's fine. Take your medicine. And some of the days, we're asking my doctor, I'm going to take two of my pills. I never take two of my pills, but I was like, something's coming up. It feels like I don't know what it is, but I cannot control this. It is out of my control. We're going to control what we can control. Let's take your medicine. Maybe try 20 milligrams. Maybe try this. It was the weirdest experience. Whenever I look back at it, it doesn't seem real life, which maybe is a good thing.

Right. You're like, it's like...

It's a good thing till everybody reminds me.

As I'm sitting here being like, so let's talk about the team final in Tokyo. I'm curious. We know what happened. You get lost in the air during your vault, and everyone was shocked. But I'm curious, take me to the moment, literally, when you land on the mat, what is going through your mind? Take me to the moment, literally, when you land on the mat, what is going through your mind?

Okay, I'll start from the back of the runway when we're standing there. Let's go back to the runway. In the back, we already knew my gymnastics was janky. In training, I was having twisties already, but I'm trying to push past that. I would literally tell my teammates, I'm fighting demons. I'm fighting demons right now, but I'm going to do it for you guys because the cords were not connected. I literally felt like I was fighting my body and my mind to do these tricks. We're trying to do some different things in the back, and I'm like, Okay, I can't do a full and off beam. Can I please go back to my double-double, which is way harder. But I know if I twist more, it's better for me. Then we go to vault. Vault is feeling a little bit weird in the air, and you can see it. The girls, we ended on floor because we started on vault out there. We end on floor, I go to do my first pass, and you can see in the air, you can ask the girls. It's not like my first pass is a triple-double. Usually when you do it, you see my regular videos.

You see one, you see two, you see three. This one, it looks like I'm going like this in the air, and it doesn't feel comfortable. I have no idea where I am, but I'm twisting, praying, land on my They're like, That looks jacked up. You can tell all of the gymnasts in there from all the countries are like, That's jacked up. That looks jacked up. It looks like she's never done this today in her life, but they know it's a twisty. People are trying not to watch. We get out there in vol, and I was like, Okay, it's fine. I warmed up everything. It wasn't good, but I did it. We get out there in vol, and we have a one-touch warmup. Go over the table, do a one-and-a-half. I'm like, What the fuck? What was I'm like, It's fine. And everybody's freaking out. I don't have another touch, so I have to go stand there until it's my turn to salute and go. I don't have another touch.

So the girls are like- Can you explain this to people that have no idea what gymnastics? They're like, What do you mean?

Gymnastics, once we go out there, we usually have a one-touch vault, and it is what it is. It's to warm up. You're usually sitting in the back for 40, 45 minutes. Come out, you get one turn to take to warm up your vault to perfection, and then you sit there and wait till it's your turn to salute and, Hey, am I at the Olympics? You That's your debut before. We go out there, and I do the one and a half, and my teammates are shook. They're like, Are you okay? I'm trying to convince myself I'm okay, so I don't need you asking me if I'm okay. Because I'm okay. Listen, I'm okay. We're great. Everything is not okay. I'm not. Yeah. Literally. They're like, You're fine. I was like, I don't know why I did that. I don't know why. I knew once I got up there, I'm chalking up. We can't put Jordan in yet. I have to go. I have to put up a score. No matter what it is over the table, I have to put up a score. So I'm chalking up, and you can see if you watch the video, I'm like...

Because I have no idea what I'm going to do when I hit that table. And so in my head, I'm standing there and I'm like, I'll just do the double pipe, which I haven't warmed up in four days. And I'm like, If I do a double pipe, over-rotate it, it's fine. And then I was like, They put up a score for a two and a half, so I have to do a two and a half. I'm thinking, if I do a double back, that's so dangerous. My coach will kill me. My team will never forgive. I saluted and I was like, Praying to God because I knew I was going to do a vault, but I didn't know what I was going to do. I knew I was going to try to do a two and a half, but I didn't know how many twists I was going to make. I just... Because I couldn't twist anymore. It's just like your body, your brain opens up, have no idea where you are. I opened, landed like that. As soon as I land, I grin and I'm like, Shit. I salute. I want to run. If I could have gotten a plane and flown home, I would have done it.

But as soon as I landed, I was like, Oh. America hates me. The world is going to hate me, and I can only see what they're saying on Twitter right now. That was my first thought. I was like, Holy shit. What are they going to say about me? Because usually, if you go to the Olympics and you flop or whatever it is, everybody on their account is going to eating those little chips.

Right. It's like you let the country down.

Oh, I thought I was going to be banned from America because that's what they tell you, don't come back. If it's not gold, gold or bust, don't come back. I was like, I don't. Thanks.

Can we just pause also? You landing and the first thing that you're thinking should have been, thank God I'm alive, because you can severely hurt yourself in those moments. And you understandably, because this is such an athlete thing, it's like, praise everyone, get everything for everyone and just sacrifice my body at all costs. And you land on the mat and you're thinking, What is Twitter saying? Yeah.

I was like, No, I'm going to be one of those videos, flops at the Olympics. This is Horrible. I knew I couldn't recover, and I know how long the twisties takes to get over, and I know it's not overnight.

Can you explain also to people that aren't familiar what is the twisties?

Okay. I had to explain it in gymnastics terms. It might not make sense, but it's basically like your mind and your body is at a disconnect. Your body is going to try to do something, and your mind is going to be like, No, you're not doing this. You're going to open out. You're going to do this. But it's the same as if... The best way I could describe it is every day you drive a car. If one day you woke up and you had no idea how to drive a car, your legs are going crazy, you have no control over your body, that's how it feels like. You've been doing something for so long, and you now no longer have control. Terrifying. It's terrifying because we're in a car without any protection. I am my car. I would explain it as the yips in golf or baseball or whatever it is. I'm not familiar with other sports, so if I'm wrong, correct me. But that's how it feels like.

Immediately, when you get off the mat, what do you do?

I go to tell my coach, and I said, I'm done. I'm not doing anymore. Because if I survive that, I don't know how much else I can survive. I always say I'm a cat with nine lives, but I think that was my ninth, I'm done. And she's like, Are you sure? And I was like, Yes, Jordan, gear up. You're in. You're doing the rest of the meet. I'm not. I can't do it.

And are you internally freaking out, but you're coming off just like-Internally?

But I didn't want to freak out in front of the girls. Got it. So I kept as composed as I could have. And I was like, You guys got this. And then we went to the back just to get evaluated, mentally and physically. But I didn't want to scare the girls. So I was like, Can we please go? And there's cameras. All the cameras I was just like... Because I know it happened, but I also don't know what happened and why it happened. We just went in the back. The girls are gearing up for bars. I come back out and I was like, You guys got this. You'll be fine. Trust me. They were like, No, we can't do this without you. We're not going to win anymore. They're freaking out because they also know what Twitter is going to say if US doesn't win. I was like, Don't worry about it. You guys are here because you're the best in the world and you will be like, Go out there and do your job. But I think it was really hard on them because mentally, they lost their best player, the veteran. I think it was really hard on them.

So that's something that I'll never forgive myself for, for that whole entire experience, because I wish I could have been in there with them in a way that I was supposed to, physically, putting up team scores, putting them. But after that, I became their loudest and best cheerleader. But I just wish it would have been contributing the way that it was supposed to happen.

I think that's so hard. When you're an athlete, you I understand that moment where you're like, you, logically, know there was nothing else you could have done. Nothing. But your brain is illogical when you're in those moments with your teammates, where you're like, I will literally die for this team right now.

That's what I was doing. That's what I was putting myself through in the back. And that's why I don't know how I made it that far through warmups, through competing. I don't know how I landed on my feet. And I think that's what people don't realize is that's not the vault that I was supposed to compete. I had a whole another full twist that I was supposed to compete. They were like, She didn't want to lose. I was like, No, no, no, no. My pride is not that big. You know what I'm saying? At that point, it's like, You know what? I need to take care of myself, and I need to do what's right for my team. And yeah, I need to let my pride not get in the way and push through this just to compete, to compete at the Olympics again. I need to go sit down, take a rest, see what's wrong mentally, and let's figure it out, but let's still give my a chance of medal contention. Because again, what people also don't realize is if I got hurt on that vault, they couldn't replace me. So if I got hurt, since I'm on every event, it's two up, two count.

We would have never won a medal. But since what happened, happened. We went to the back. At that point, they could rule it as a mental injury and all of that stuff and physical. We got to put Jordan in. People don't know that.

What happened in the back? Did you just try to... What happened?

Doctors came over. I had I wanted to talk to my family because they were watching the Olympics, and they see me get whisked to the back. So they thought I was hurt. I'm like, yeah, I'm hurt. My heart is broken. Everything hurts, but my knees are fine. I'm like, my brain hurts. Everything. So I called my family, and it's so funny because my sister was sleeping.

No. I'm like, Bitch, I'm at the Olympics. Why are you sleeping?

But there's a time change, so I get it. But everybody's up in the house cheering for me, Simone gear on, and my sister's like, I think I'll take a nap.

I think I'll send this one out. Simone's got it. Should they wake her up?

No. She heard the phone ring because I called the home phone, and she said she was sleeping and she felt something was wrong. She ran to the kitchen and said, I'll answer it, and saw my name on it.Oh, that's freaky.Freaky. She answered and she said, Hello. As soon as I heard her voice, I just, I lost it. You're crying. I was like, I'm out. I'm done. She was like, Are you okay? I was like, Yeah. Can you hit the phone to Mom? Mom. Yeah. I'm like, Come pick me up. I'm scared.

Literally, Mom, come pick me up. I'm scared. I'm in Tokyo, and you're back in the United States. What did your mom say?

She was like, Are you okay? Because that was her main concern. She thought I got hurt. Of course. At that point, Yeah, I wish my toe was sticking on the side of my foot or my knees were cracked or something because that would have been easier to explain.

It's also just like, as an athlete, you're so right. It's like the feeling of trying. It's, We're supposed to be the toughest. We're like, you're invincible. What do you mean? We can't see the injury, so you're fine. Yeah.

I'm like, Yeah, sorry, I came here. My brain just decided to have a malfunction and break.

Yeah. How do you describe that to people? How do you tweet that one to the world? That's what I'm saying.

But then whenever I really talked about it, and there were actually a lot of people that understood, and we got a lot of positive feedback, and that's why I was like, You know what? You're not going to put me at the forefront of mental health. But again, if I can be a voice, let's go through this journey together because I know, unfortunately, a lot of us are struggling, but let's walk this journey together and let's go get healthy.

Absolutely. What are your parents like on that call? Your mom's checking if you're okay. What is your dad like in those moments?

My dad is always so calm and collected, it seems. So he was He was probably like, Oh, is she okay? But probably not even that concerned. He was probably like, Is she okay? Okay. Okay. I think that's just what he was doing. My mom was like, a mess. I could hear her crying and breaking down, and that's what broke me, too. It's because also I have so many people who have helped me get to where I was, and I felt like I didn't just let down myself. I let down that team that was there. I let down America. I let down my trainers. I let down... There were so many people that helped me get there. That's why every time I get to compete for Team USA or I'm on top of that podium, I'm so grateful. That medal is not just for me. It's for everybody that has helped me get there. It's like, at that point, it was really heavy. Because I was like, I couldn't even at that point, I couldn't even look at Laurent. Cécile helped me so much, but I couldn't look at Laurent. Why? I felt like I failed him.

I've never said that out loud. It's They've helped me get to that point because I never thought I was going to do gymnastics again. So I felt like I let down Laurent.

Now, having met him, I get it. He has such an incredibly high standard for you in the best way, and he's so fierce and loyal.

He tries not to let anything get to him, and I knew that got to him.

You ended up participating in the individual beam competition and won a bronze medal flex. How did you know you were okay to compete?

I changed my routine because I didn't have to twist. Flipping wasn't necessarily the problem. It was flipping and twisting. One of the gyms there let me go train there, and I have videos from that, too. They let me change my dismo, and I've done a full in for seven years or eight years. I hadn't done a double pipe in that long. So going back and trying to control that, and I kept over-rotating it was insane. I was so scared because my disk mount is typically harder. And so I was like, Okay, I can still do beam if we change my disk mount. We were able to I'm going to change it. At that point, I didn't think I was going to medal. I was like, I just want to go out there and compete because this is what I came here to do.

But how do you even mentally get yourself together after that moment with Walt?

It was four days later. Thank God. You could just chill. Because I pulled out of every final. But every time I pulled out of a final, I felt like it was another night. I got to do Beam, and I was really excited. Then, of course, a lot of people hated that. Well, of course, she's going to do it for herself. I was like, You don't see me twisting, do you? Still not twisting. But yeah, once the score came up, I was like, Oh, thank God. Made a Beam routine. Then we saw that I was going to medal, and I hit Cecile, and I said, What? What? A Bronze? After Rio, I got a Bronze on Beam, and I was shunned. People were like, Throw that medal away. You should have got a gold because they did mess up. But there's no telling what the medal would have been, but I did mess up, so I ended up with a Bronze. I was scarred from having a Bronze medal because I never really talked about my Bronze because people made me so ashamed of it in Rio. So whenever I got that Bronze, you couldn't tell me that it was a bronze.

It felt like a gold to me.

Right. You're like, I'm just happy I got a medal. I'm happy I got back out there. For people to be like, Don't come home with that Bronze. It's like, Sorry, do you know how to do a cartwheel? That's what I'm saying. Sorry. Who are you to say, Don't come home with a bronze?

It's crazy.

I'll walk my ass back into America, happily raise it around.

I'll take a bronze. Yeah. It's just from one spectrum to the other, from having a a real bronze to a Tokyo bronze. It's like, polar opposites. I'm swinging that thing around. People are like, You know that's a bronze?

I'm like, We got it. Let's go.

You couldn't tell me that it was a bronze.

Because you got it. God bless. Okay, take me to the plane ride. I'm picturing you, you're getting through these Olympics at this point. You get bronze, you're like, time to go back home. That's a long-ass plane ride.

Yeah, I was mentally, physically exhausted, drained. I have nothing left, and I can't put on a face anymore. I physically could not wait to land in Houston, and they made us go to New York to do like, The Today show. I got my hair and makeup done, whatever. Still putting on a great face because I'm like, All I want to do is hold my mom and cry. I want my mom. I just want my mom.

Just for Today, so Sweetie, smile.

As soon as we landed in Houston, again, there was at the gate so many cameras, so I still had to put on a face. I couldn't break down. But I hugged my mom and I just felt comforted. But I couldn't break down until we got home. And guess what? When I got home, We have a parade through a parade. They were like, Get ready, Simone. We have a parade through the neighborhood. Get your convertible. Smile and wave. I just wanted to have a breakdown, and I didn't want to have it. This mental breakdown, it was waiting.

No, it is sitting in your chest. You're like, When can I sob? When can I sit in my bed for 48 hours and not leave and just sob? Yeah. And you had to do a parade.

Yeah, parade.

At that point, you're like, I just wanted Will the tears even come at this point?

I've been holding him in. I just wanted to cry and be like, This was the shittiest thing ever. I don't know why it happened. I just wanted to soak in my feelings and to be by myself. I didn't want anybody to tell me that it was okay anymore. Because I'm tired of everybody telling me it's okay. It's okay to you. It's not okay to me. What happened was not okay. So that was that.

So when did you break down?

Probably when I had to unpack that suitcase. And then I went on tour, and I was hosting my own tour across America, Gold over America, which was absolutely amazing. The fans, the kids, beautiful. We put together an amazing production. But even before some of those shows, I had therapy. I I can't recall what time our show started, but say it started at 7:00. I would be on therapy from 4:30 to 6:00. Then I would give myself an hour to get ready. Some days, Jordan would come in my room because I had my own room. I'd be bawling my eyes out trying to put on my makeup because I'm talking to my therapist about the Olympic experience. Put on my face, Hi, Golden for America. I love to see you. Like, crazy. It was fun, and I will cherish every stop and every show that we got to put on. Totally. But it was just like, behind the scenes, just nobody knew.

Well, no. And that's what I appreciate you sharing that because it doesn't take away from you an amazing experience with those people. But it's like, again, shows the level of strength you have of like, you know Simone Biles, the public person and what she needs to do to show up. I don't want you to share what you're comfortable because therapy is sacred. But In those sessions, are you going beat by beat, or are you just talking about the overall feeling and experience?

For me, since, again, it was a new therapist, which I- Oh, God.

Is that good or bad timing?

It was a new therapist, and every time I'm with the new therapist, it feels a little bit uncomfortable. So I like to start by saying, Hey, I'm like an onion, let's peel the layers. I'm an open book anywhere else, but with trauma, it has to be by layers because, Listen, I still I still have to put on face. I still have to go do these shows. It was layers by layers. But the compartmentalizing that we do as an athlete and just as a human, I know a lot of us do it was insane, and I don't know how I got through it. But honestly, I think the tour helped me get out there and realize there's more to life than gymnastics. I honestly thought, since I didn't compete at the Olympics in the way that I was supposed to and that we didn't win gold, I thought nobody was going to show up to my tour stops. And night after night, it filled my cup up because all of these girls and the fans came out. I remember after a show, sometimes we get to see our family, but since COVID, it wasn't too much family.

But my family and some of the producers were at a show, and we were in the back, we were eating dinner after the show, and I broke down crying, and I was like, I cannot believe people are still showing up. Why are they showing up? We didn't win. That's when I realized, holy crap.

It's not about that.

Yeah. But I always thought it was because that was ingrained in my head, and that's what everybody told me. That's heavy. Yeah, it was crazy. I've learned so much about myself in such different Olympic experiences that now having another Olympic year in a cycle, it's traumatizing in a way to walk into. But I feel like at this point, nothing can break me. I've just been through so much, so much trauma, so much healing. I'm actually excited to see what happens after this.

I was going to say in a strange way, because I was thinking about... I feel like I can visualize, broadly, that scene of you opening that suitcase and just sitting there with it in front of you of And the emotions and everything you're feeling from what you just tried to run away from is sitting there going now to this new phase. It's a little traumatizing, you're right, to be like, Am I going to do that again?

I'm going to put myself through this.

When you were home, when was the first time you tried the vault again? Did you go immediately into the gym? What was the situation?

That's what I wanted to do. But since we had tour, there was no way for me to really get into a gym and train like that. But I was so traumatized. So after tour, I put it under the rug. That's for another time. I would go into the gym and train. Like, play around. I wouldn't say train. I would go into the gym, go see the girls, and I would just go jump on the trampoline and do back flips, back tucks. People call back flips. That's why I'm saying back flips. But I would go do back tucks. Even that felt weird because I'm like, whoa. But I hadn't done that in a year because I took off a year or more. Every time I went to the gym, it was traumatizing. Every time I'd flip, I just flashbacks to Tokyo. I'm going to get lost. I'm going to get lost. Laurent would always come over and he's like, Okay, go into the pit. Let's do a full. I'm like, I'm here to see the girls. I just wanted to jump on the tramp.

I'm just here to jump on the tramp.

Calm down. He would make me twist and go back to the basics. I wasn't even training. I He really would just come visit. He didn't want me to have that feeling because... Before that, I would watch gymnastics on TV, and the girls would be twisting, and I'd be cringing. I'd be like, Oh, my God. Oh, my God. I'm going to throw up. I can't because I can't picture myself doing it because I took so much off.

What was the lowest point of the entire Tokyo aftermath and experience?

I would say it wasn't even in Tokyo, unfortunately. I think it's I decided to come back and train in getting over those demons because there were so many days I would come back in the gym, and it was like, one step forward, five steps back, one step forward, five steps back. Because as soon as I got lost, one time, get lost, pack my bags, I'm out of there. Why am I putting myself through this? Hell no. I left so many times. It was frustrating for both me and Laurent because he didn't fully understand the twisties. For a lot of the time as a gymnast, we know it happens, but it's very unspoken of. Whenever it happens, you pretend it doesn't happen. Why is that? It's not a good feeling. It's dangerous. It's horrible. It's scary.

But you don't want to speak up because then you're like, I don't want to be out.

Yeah. Then the other girls will look at you and they feel like once you get lost, it's going to happen to them. Got it. It feels contagious. Interesting. Whenever they were looking at me and doing it, it's so weird. We had to go back to the basics. Honestly, the whole year, whenever Laurent, last year, he told me I was competing, I was like, How can I compete? I'm not over the twisties yet. Because every time I went to bars or beamer floor, I was praying that I did the amount of twist I was supposed to. I was so traumatized for this experience that I'm just now feeling better. Even walking into the gym, some days I feel like I'm going to get lost because I know why it happened. But I'm like, I hope that's the reason. I'm just now feeling comfortable without... It's crazy because I went through World Championships. Everybody's like, She's back. If we would have had one more day of World Championships, I think just mentally from convincing myself that I can do it so many times, and you're fine, twisting, twisting. I think I would have just broke down and been like, I just can't.

Mentally, I couldn't do it anymore. Not physically. I think physically, I would have been able to do it. But if there were one more day of worlds, I wouldn't have done it.

Because I think what people, I hope, understand is there's this mental taxing aspect of when you fail at something, you can't unsee it. Exactly. You can't unfeel it. So you're trying to remove yourself and you're trying to push it as far away as possible. But your brain has experienced it once. So you need to be so mentally strong to lock that so far in the corner, but it's hard.

So when did you approach your coaches and say, I want to come back? It was funny because the conversation didn't go how I thought it was going to go. Okay. And so I think I requested a meeting or whatever with Cécile Laurent, and we ended up at their house and brought my husband, my little Blanky. I was like, Okay, I want to go back to the Olympics. I want to do this. And They're sitting across the table and they look at me and they're like, No. I was like, I just told you I want to go to the Olympics. I want to go back to the Olympics. Let's do this.

Wait, scream for me. Yes.

They were like, No. I was like, What's happening? I'm like, What is going on? They were like, No, you've set expectations for your sofa so long. Let's just go back in the gym, get in shape, and see what happens. I was like, So we're not going to the Olympics? We're not training for the Olympics?

They're like, We're not going to Paris? Yeah. What do you mean?

That was really weird to me because I thought they were going to be on board. Like, yes, we have the process laid out. Let's go. They just said no. I was like, Do I get new coaches? What's going to happen? I was like, Oh, you're right. He was like, Let's not just think about the Olympics right now. Let's think about maybe getting your skills back, twisting comfortably again, doing this. I was like, Oh, those things?

Okay, fine. But then can we go to the Olympics?

Yes. That's how we started it. Then I didn't think I was competing at Classics last year. He was like, Yeah, you're competing. Here's your Leo's. Here's this. Here's that. I was like, What? That we weren't going to the Olympics.

So I can officially ask, and you can confirm, the goal is to go to Paris.

If all goes well, I'm training. Yeah.

The goal is to go to Paris. So if you're going to Paris, How are you approaching the games differently compared to previous years?

I think just working on my mind and my body more than I have or continuing to work on my body and my mind, just like I have the past year and a half and it's worked. So to just stay on top of that. It's exhausting, but I have to do it. It's working. I didn't think therapy was going to work, and it's working.

Therapy is the most incredible thing that I've always said to people. You do, though, need to get into it when you're ready. It's like so many people can tell you to go, and if your body and brain is not ready to go, it's not even going to penetrate. You're going to be like, I don't feel shit.

You're not going to open up. You're not going to talk. You're not going to be vulnerable. You're not going to let those demons out. So it worked out for the best part.

It worked I think I saw an interview of you where you were like, which I love, you were like, people ask you your goals for the Olympics. And you're like, I'm not sharing my goals because I'm so sick of people then shoving them in my face if I don't hit it. Exactly. And I think that's good for you to set boundaries with press. Can I ask, though, a personal, not having to do with gymnastics, a personal goal mentally for you that you're going to carry through?

I would say to keep up with my therapy, even on those hard days, because I have dodged a couple of tests.

Oh, yeah. You're like, Sorry, I'm a little busy. That's so relatable.

She knows my day's off, so I do it the same day every time. She's like, Simone, are you there? I was like, No.

Sorry, I'm not here. That's the worst when your therapist calls you out. I know you're free, and you're like, No, I'm not. They're like, And those are the ones that they always get mad at you because they're like, Those are the sessions you need the most.

That's what she shows me. But my phone's on.

Do not disturb. You're like, I can't hear you. I'm like, I messed it.

But I feel so guilty and so ashamed.

I do, too. When I ghost my therapist, is there anything more toxic than ghosting your therapist? You're literally like, This is the most toxic because it's the healthiest relationship you're in.Thank you. But so toxic.So bad. Sometimes you can't. We need a break. Sometimes I don't want to talk my feelings too much.

Sometimes it's exhausting. I just feel a record on repeat. Again, it goes back to, I feel like I should be healed by now. Now you're shoving this down my throat.

I hope you, and I know this to any one going through mental health situations or survivors, whatever it is, it is not on you to speed up the process of recovery from trauma. That was not your fault. And so it's hard to, again, as athletes, you're trained to get over things so quickly But this is one thing you have to rewire your brain. It's okay to feel this and don't shove it away. Call your therapist.

Talk it through. No, 100 %. I agree. And I think I've learned that with my therapy over the years. So I am very grateful that I'm in therapy and thankful for the resources we have because before this, no athlete was very outspoken about doing therapy or this, that, the other, or even just getting help. So we are in a very fortunate situation that we're able to do that, and we're allowed to be vulnerable with our fans and with our community. So I guess I just want to say thank you to them, too, because without them, we wouldn't be able to do what we do.

Okay, this is Still Call Her Daddy. So I want to talk about your husband. You're married to an NFL player, Jonathan Owens. You're married to an NFL player, Jonathan Owens. You're married to an NFL player, Jonathan Owens. You met on Raya, which first I just want to say, God bless you, because I had no luck on Raya. Okay, girl. Raya was just doing nothing for me, but DJs in Australia. Yeah. So good for you. You didn't have-I had no luck.

I could have changed your setting.

Thank you. Okay, You're setting were up. Were they? Athletes check. 5,000 miles check. Listen, I had enough of my days with athletes. Okay, Simone, I had to move on. What made his profile stand out?

I think, first of all, boys are so different from girls because we're picking the cuteest backgrounds, the most aesthetically-looking pictures. I wanted him to see... I didn't want to really show that I was a gymnast, so I didn't want to put a gymnastic-y picture in there unless he had to click on my Instagram and then see I was a gymnast. So I didn't want that to be the first impression. So I was like, Okay, face, not that much makeup, this, that, the other. But what stood out on his profile was just like, he seems so charismatic. He had these little dimples, the light eyes. And I was like, Oh, he's so cute. And I think he had his Bulldog on there. He was like, He has a dog.

He's so cute. Note to men listening, even if you don't own a dog, take a picture with the dog and put it on your profile because it won't work.

To me, if he had a dog, that meant he was responsible.

I love that you think that is the first thing. Mom, like, Oh, he's so cute. Is that him laughing back there? Someone's laughing. He probably is, but listen.

Then I went to his profile and I didn't know it was his nephew, and I was like, He has a kid.

Oh, no. You thought he had a kid?

I thought he had a kid. But then my soccer skills, our soccer skills.

30 seconds. You figured it out.

I figured it out. You figured it out.

It was his sister's son. Yeah, of course. So it was okay. When did you start to realize he was the one? You. I know.

Actually, and this is so cliché because Everybody says this. But the first time I met him, I came home from our little date and stuff, and my friends were at my house, and I was like, I'm going to marry him. Who says that? I don't know why I said that. I don't know what it is, but I just felt something. It was just felt different.

The energy?

The energy, how well we got along. It was a COVID relationship. It was March of 2020 whenever I went over. I had to go to his apartment to meet him. It wasn't in a public setting, and we knew it didn't want to be public because we're both public. They just take pictures, whatever. But to go to his apartment, I was like, for a first date. But we had no other choice. Everything was really shutting down in our city. That week, everything was starting to shut down. For me, I was like, Let's just do a play date with the Bulldogs. Because I have a Bulldog, too. He was like, Well, no, because then we'll be distracted by the dogs. For me, I sometimes like distractions. That's away from me so that if it's awkward, I'm like, Oh, my dog, look at her.

The dog is sitting on the floor.

Yes. He was like, No, not for the first date. Then we'll introduce them. I was like, Okay. But then I walked in and his dog I was so excited, he peed all over the floor. That's when you know. I was like, Maybe girls aren't here very often.

Great sign. I love-He's never seen a girl. The dog has never met a girl. Contextclu, Simone, you're genius. You're like, They've never seen a woman. Or even the delusion. You're like, They've never seen a woman in their life. The delusion. What is married life like?

To me, God, we were together the whole entire time. Then as soon as we got married, Green Bay is like, Hey, we want to sign him. We went from our wedding, dropped our bags, flew off the next morning, signed a Green Bay, and they were like, See you Monday, Jonathan. As soon as we got married, it was long distance. It was very different. Now he's back home. Now we're getting back into the groove of things because we're both on our schedules. We're both athletes. I think that's what is so nice about our relationship is we get to focus on our sports, respectively, and then we get to focus on each other. But it's no different. We're still dating. We're about to be four years in. So, yeah, married life is no different.

Okay. Jonathan, if you're listening. I don't even know if he's in this house yet. I think he is. We have to talk about the viral moment. We have to do it. I knew you were going to ask me that. I have to. I have to. Jonathan's viral interview where he said he had no idea who you were and the internet went insane. What was your reaction when you heard the interview and everything?

I was in the room. I was sitting on the chair. You You just couldn't see me on the videos. I was there for the whole entire video.

And you were feeling great. I was feeling great. I was like, Why? My man just came back.

Stop, stop. I'm so excited. They even panned over to me with that viral moment, and I just roll my eyes and laugh because... But the funny thing is, whenever I met Jonathan, we were texting that week, and at that point, I'm like, Okay, I don't have time to waste. If we're going to meet, because if it goes over a week, you're not meeting. Forget this. We met that week, but whenever I would text him anything, I'd text him. He would say, I can do that. I can do that. So he could do everything. He was a comedian. He was a dog trainer. He was the best cook out there. He was the fastest runner. He could do everything. That cracked me up about him. I couldn't wait to meet him to be like, You're not funny. You're not a good cook.

You're not shit.

Yeah, literally. I just thought that was funny because... I thought that was cute that he I thought he was good at everything because I'm like, I'm good at gymnastics. Let me show you. He's like, I'm good at everything. Whenever he did that interview, I thought everything was okay.

I'm dying that you're in that corner.

Then I go on Twitter and Everybody's like, Divorce this man. He's mean. I'm like, He's the sweetest. He praises the ground that I walk on. Truly, I've never met a man like him. He still opens my doors. I'm not saying that to be like, He still opens my doors because that's to be expected of men. But he truly goes out of his way to do anything for me. Today, I was like, Babe, I'm at the gym, and I forgot my camera. Can you bring it? And I meant to bring it to this house.

He brought it to the gym.

He's just so sweet.

He's just doing things like, you feel loved and you feel supported.

I didn't think anything of that interview. He never said I wasn't a catch. He said he was a catch because he is. I've never met a man like him. A lot of people that meet him are like, Oh, my gosh, I want a man like that, like Jonathan. A lot of the girls at the gym, they love him. He's so nice to them. He supports them. He's so sweet. One of the girls at the gym, she's like my little sister, and we had gone to, I think we were at camp. I always drive her to camp, so she drops her car off at my house and she parks it in the driveway. He got her windows tinned. He was like, You can't be fish-bullying out here, and got her windows tinned.

He's the sweetest. He's thinking of the little thing. Yes. I think what's crazy is, first of all, just as we know, the internet, you never know what's going to go viral.

And they'll take it and run. And that's exactly what they did.

Why do you think people got so upset?

Because he wasn't... First of all, that interview had nothing to do with me. 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. Whenever I go to football games, sometimes I get field passes, but I'm not like, Hey, look at me. Simone Biles is here. I just want to see my man in uniform. Give me a little kiss. Good luck out there. It's like, this is his moment. That's his interview. What was I supposed to interrupt that interview and be like, Hey, da, da, da, da, I'm just like, I'm not Simone Biles, the Olympian.

I'm just Simone Biles, and that's my boo on the field.

Yes, and I love to support him. I think that they were mad that whenever they said he... And by the way, he said it, but Brian Clarke said it so many times. Yeah, so you're saying... It was hyped up, boys, whatever. Those conversations, they were 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.

When that was all going crazy and trending, what are you guys saying to each other?

I thought it was hilarious what people were saying, Divorce him, divorce him, all this crazy stuff. He doesn't even like to say divorce. He's probably dying right now that I've said it six times in a row. Divorce. Yeah, literally. Divorce. Because whatever. I thought it was hilarious at first, and then they hurt my feelings. Then one night, I broke down and I'm like, Why are you guys talking about my husband like this? You don't know him. You don't know who he is. If anybody's met him, they know he's the sweetest guy and will do anything for anybody.

It was just perceived in not the correct way.

Yes. That really hurt that they were talking about my husband like that. Because for me, it's like, talk about me all you want, but don't come from my family. Never. Because I've been in the limelight long enough where I can brush things off, have my little pow-wou about it. You're not going to know I've heard about it, but I'd be crying about some stuff. You know what But I only cry about it because I can't clap back. Just know that.

Why not? Why couldn't you?

I hurt their feelings.

You're like, You don't want me to clap back.

Yeah, and it's just like, Classy, you know? Yes, because whenever I was younger, I used to have Twitter fingers, too. My agent like, This one can you take that down? Because I would go off on people because who are you to say? Every now and then, if I say something, it's like, Slick and clever. But I can really go there.

You're just like, It's better to not.

Exactly. Yeah.

Okay, Jonathan has never-They're in the drafts. They're in the drafts. You draft them and you never send them. Because if I at least type it out, I feel better. Everyone's going to hack your Twitter. I hope someone hacks your Twitter and just rips. Can you imagine? We're like, damn. Because they're quoted. It was literally. Okay, Jonathan has never gotten to go to the Olympics before. With you, what are you most excited about for him to experience?

Well, hopefully he gets to go because that's usually their training camp, and he's working on a new contract. So hopefully, he'll work in his new contract at least two days. Even if it's like, Hey, personal day. But some teams are really nice about if you work with their family relations. Some are more family-oriented than others. So fingers crossed, we'll get to see him in the stand. I'm excited for him to see that. One, I'm excited to see him to see the Olympics because football is not in the Olympics. He always says it's the hardest sport. It's universal. I'm like, so why isn't it in the Olympics? If not, every country does it. Period. But no, just to see that spirit. I'm at Paris, I I think they'll do a beautiful job. He doesn't travel overseas too much. The first time he went overseas was when... I think he was on the Texans and they went to London. He had to get a passport. He never had a passport before.

Oh, so you're like, Come with me, babe. Let me show you the world. Yeah. Literally. Okay. Regardless of what happens in Paris, what do you hope your legacy is?

To be an advocate for anything that I've been outspoken about, mental Health, foster care, ADHD, whatever that is. But also just someone that gave it her all, never gave up, but also had fun and enjoyed her career because I think a lot of times athletes might look back at their career and be like, I wish I had more fun, or I wish I did this differently. But I'm at that age where I don't really have any more regrets because I'm a little bit older, I'm more mature. Everything Everything I've done has been on my time, so I don't have regrets.

I think that is so beautiful. I think first, I would just like to thank you because hearing so much of what you're talking about, you are so perceived on the internet, and there's so much pressure, and it's difficult to open up and sit and be honest and vulnerable. I appreciate you trusting me with your story and this experience because I am such a huge fan of yours, and I think you are so much more than gymnastics, but you are a kick-ass badass as a gymnast, obviously the greatest of all time. So I just cannot wait to see what's next for you. And I don't just mean, obviously, the Olympics, just your life and your career and Simone Biles. And I love you.Thank you.Congrats.Oh, my God. We did it.Yeah.Yeah.Yay.Yeah..