Unlike most of the world, Jonathan Owens got to know Simone Biles first as a person, then as a gymnast.
The Green Bay Packers safety, 28, appeared in the latest episode Headquarters podcast alongside his wife β who recently became the most decorated gymnast of all time β and told the story of how they met, including the fact that she was the first to reach out.
Asked by co-host Channing Crowder, “How the hell did you get Simone Biles?”, Owens admitted that he “didn’t know who she was” in 2020 when they first connected, after connecting on the Raya dating app.
“I say, ‘Let me see who this is.’ I never really paid attention to gymnastics, so it piqued my curiosity,” the NFL player said.
He soon learned that Biles, 26, was more important than he thought. βThe first thing I saw was that she had a pile [Instagram] followers. “In my mind, I’m like, ‘Okay, she’s got to be good,'” Owens said on the podcast.
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Simone Biles’ Husband Jonathan Owens Praises Her in Game Day Fit Post: ‘My Baby’
Explaining how he may not have known who Biles was at first given her notoriety, Owens said, “When she won the Olympics, I was in college and we didn’t have NBC, we didn’t have Olympic channels, and we were in [training] camp [in] end of July, beginning of August.”
“So I don’t pay attention. I’d never have a moment to look [her compete],” he added.
She texted him first, which led to them “messaging back and forth” before connecting in person for the first time three days later, according to Owens.
“There wasn’t much we could do because COVID happened and everything was closed,” said the football player, who played for the Houston Texans at the time. “That’s how she came to Houston. She lived in the suburbs, so she had to drive about 45 minutes. Then the rest is history.”
The couple was married on April 22, 2023, at the Harris County Courthouse in Houston. A few weeks later, they had a second wedding in Cabo San Lucas, Mexico.
Asked if he believed he was the “catch” in his relationship with Biles, Owens said, “I always say men are the catch” and that he “struggled” against his natural feeling of being “afraid to commit” at that point in his life.
“I say, ‘It’s a little early.’ But you know, it happens when you least expect it. When we hung out, we hit it off right away. We laughed all night long,” he said.
He was also drawn to Biles’ response about who she considers her biggest competition (spoiler: herself), and said he really got a sense of her influence when they were out at a popular ice cream shop one Sunday.
“It was all those moms and they are there with their children, and we passed by and they all just stopped [stared]. The kids were just shaking, like, ‘Oh, my God,'” Owens recalled.
Jonathan Owens and Simone Biles in Houston on December 28, 2021.
Carmen Mandato/Getty
Simone Biles and Jonathan Owens Relationship Timeline
After the premiere of the podcast episode, Owens appeared to respond to criticism of his comments in an Instagram post Thursday night.
Sharing photos of himself and his lovely wife on their wedding day and a few more casual photos, he wrote: “No problem πβ€οΈ Just know we’re locked in here π€π½.”
In addition to sharing his post on her own Instagram Story, Biles also left a supportive comment on her husband’s online post.
“π€πΎπ For life,” she wrote.
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Source: HIS Education