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What is out Daddy Gang it

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with call her cat. Food.

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Sephora. Simone Biles, welcome

2:41

to Call Our Daddy. I

2:46

feel like we've been waiting for this for so long. Okay,

2:48

we need to tell the daddy gang the story. So

2:50

I would say like, I don't know, maybe like a

2:53

couple years ago, I don't

2:55

remember who DM'd who. But I

2:57

remember you tagged me in a

2:59

story that you were watching Call Our Daddy and I

3:01

lost my mind

3:04

because I was like, wait, she listens. And

3:07

then I started pressuring. I'm like, oh my God,

3:09

I need to like do better. Like I need

3:11

to impress Simone. But it was such a cool

3:13

full circle moment that we started DMing. We had

3:15

this like DMing relationship here and there. And

3:17

then when NBC and I started working together for

3:19

the Olympics, I remember we sat down and they

3:22

were like, okay, like what person do you want to interview?

3:24

And immediately I was like, Simone. And

3:27

like, of course they're like, LOL, like that's so

3:29

cute. Like, of course everyone wants to interview Simone.

3:31

I'm like, no, like I need to interview her.

3:33

And they're like, do you know her? And

3:36

I'm like, kind of. We're

3:39

pen pals like that. And now we're

3:41

finally here. Thank God. It's

3:43

perfect. Yes. Okay, so we were

3:45

just at your parents' gym.

3:47

Watching from previous documentaries that you've done to

3:50

watching it all get built to you

3:52

now, like having your own gym and how

3:54

supportive your parents have been. Like, what does

3:56

that support mean to you? For

3:59

me, it means the world. because being adopted since I

4:01

was six years old to now it's been a long

4:03

road and journey like career

4:07

wise and just like who

4:10

Simone is instead of Simone Biles so

4:12

it's been a long journey but their

4:14

support means the world to me they've

4:16

never really missed a competition anything besides

4:18

2020 Olympics 2021 whatever

4:20

we want to call it that's the only

4:22

thing they missed because they weren't allowed to

4:24

go because of COVID but other

4:27

than that they've supported everything that

4:29

I have ever wanted to do all

4:31

of that stuff since I was a

4:33

young girl. When you say the word

4:35

Simone Biles to the world I think

4:37

everyone immediately thinks Olympian the goat yeah

4:39

and I think there's like a lot of

4:41

people that probably don't know where you came from

4:44

and the backstory of like your life hasn't

4:46

always just been this picture perfect situation when

4:48

you were three you went into foster care

4:50

yes can you share just a little bit

4:52

like what was going on at home that

4:54

led to that? I was only three years

4:56

old so I learned that a little bit

4:58

whenever I was older but drug

5:01

and alcohol abuse and so

5:03

I just don't think that she was around

5:05

too much and people you know would call

5:07

CPS or see us out and about and

5:10

so that's kind of what happened that's when

5:12

foster care came and got us and placed

5:14

us into a foster home and so the

5:17

only thing that I remember was

5:19

just being anxious when we would go to sleep because

5:21

my brother was in the room next door and I

5:24

think we were

5:26

just always used to sleeping together or close or whatever

5:28

because he's not that much older in mind you we

5:30

were three and so I just

5:32

had anxiety problems so I we were in

5:34

a girls room they had girls rooms and

5:36

boys rooms and from my

5:39

knowledge that sometimes during the night

5:41

or during the day they would take

5:43

kids out and replace them into a different home

5:45

and that's usually how siblings were separated so I

5:47

was just so terrified that if I woke up

5:50

my brother wouldn't be there even though I was

5:52

with my sister I was like oh we all

5:54

have to stay together kind of that thing even

5:57

from a young age so I'd always sneak in and go sleep

5:59

with him Because I'm like, oh,

6:01

this is my brother. You know, because I

6:03

didn't understand the separation whenever at nighttime. Fast

6:05

forward a couple years later, I was at

6:07

gym and I knew I was adopted. From

6:09

the moment we were adopted, my family told

6:12

us, you guys are adopted and I was

6:14

like, cool, okay. Right. Great. Like,

6:16

I don't know what that means, but, and then they had

6:18

to ask us if we wanted to call the mom and

6:20

dad. And from my knowledge, I

6:22

was like, perfect. Like, why wouldn't I? And

6:25

so it was just super strange to me because I

6:27

remember this day at gym. We

6:30

were talking about our families and they had

6:32

said something and I was like,

6:35

oh, well I'm adopted. And it felt

6:37

like everything in the room in the

6:39

gym stopped. And they were like, what

6:41

you're adopted because that was not to

6:43

their knowledge. And I was like, why

6:46

is everyone freaking out? And so

6:48

I was like, well, you know, my parents,

6:50

those are my grandparents, my uncles that

6:53

I call my brother now, those were my

6:55

uncles. And so I just remember we all

6:57

sat on the floor, practice stopped because everybody

6:59

needed to know the story. Like the coaches

7:01

were intrigued, everybody. They were like, you're adopted.

7:03

And I was just kind of like, well,

7:06

yeah, aren't you? Where'd you come from? I'm

7:09

just like so confused. Right. It was

7:11

normal for you. When they say the store

7:13

brings the babies, I'm like, how did you get

7:16

here? I'm

7:18

like, you weren't picked. Like you

7:20

weren't in a house and then you weren't adopted. So

7:23

like that was shocking to me.

7:25

Did your parents ever talk to

7:27

you about your biological parents? Kind

7:31

of funny because no, because I just, I'm

7:34

not sure the relationship maybe because we

7:36

didn't ask either. But we

7:38

knew who it was as we

7:40

got older, Shannon. And

7:43

that's kind of what we just addressed

7:45

her as. But I knew once I

7:47

got older, that that's my dad's daughter.

7:49

And then that's also crazy explaining to

7:51

people because I'm like, my biological mom

7:53

is also my dad's daughter. And

7:56

I call him dad. So it's just like, everybody's hella confused.

7:58

It's a whole family tree that you're like. don't

8:00

make me explain it. My parents are

8:02

my parents. I got chosen, feeling blessed,

8:04

or smooth off. Literally. Oh my gosh.

8:06

If you think too hard, it just

8:08

gets jumbled. Your grandparents

8:10

adopted you at six. Now they're your

8:12

parents. Yes. Boom. How do

8:15

you think that did change though, like the trajectory

8:17

of your life? Everything.

8:19

I have no idea where

8:21

I would be without being adopted.

8:24

Unfortunately, I might end up the same

8:26

statistic that other foster kids unfortunately end

8:28

up. And you know, at 18 years

8:31

old, you get kicked out of a

8:33

foster home. So then you have

8:35

your homeless. If you don't get

8:37

into college and stuff, which most people don't

8:39

graduate high school, you're on the streets. So

8:41

like, I fear for what my life would

8:43

have looked like. Wow. I mean,

8:46

it's incredible to see what you have

8:48

all built together as a family. I

8:51

love how in the beginning you just quickly are like, and then

8:53

when I'm at the gym, back up. Okay.

8:56

You are the greatest of all time.

8:58

Yes. Let's talk about when you

9:00

first got into gymnastics. Like, do you remember, did

9:02

you just think of it as a hobby? Were

9:04

you passionate about it? Like, how did you get

9:06

into gymnastics? We got into gymnastics, I say

9:08

we as me and my sister from

9:11

a daycare field trip. Again, I

9:13

believe everything happens for a reason. In this

9:15

day, we're here in Texas. If

9:17

nobody does. Yeah, we're here in Texas. We were supposed to

9:19

go on a field trip to the oil ranch. Like, how

9:22

country, how Texas is that? And then we

9:24

wind up at the gym. Because

9:26

it was storming that day, so they're like, that's an

9:28

outside activity, where are we gonna take the kids? And

9:30

so I feel like God was like, take the kids

9:33

to the gym and see what happens. And so we

9:35

end up at the gym and I see these girls

9:37

and mind you, I've never seen gymnastics in my life.

9:39

They're flipping around all of the things. And me

9:42

six years old, I'm like, I could do that. Like

9:44

not knowing, I just like feel like I could

9:47

do that. And I'm watching them super intrigued. Somebody

9:50

does something, I do something. And then the coaches

9:52

look over and they're like, can

9:54

you do that again? What did you

9:56

just do? Have you ever been to gymnastics? It's like, no, this

9:59

is my first time. And I

10:01

did it again and they're looking at my like

10:03

my body build and if I show you pictures

10:05

whenever I was younger Like I was built like

10:07

I was ripped for no reason

10:09

just that's just how I was built And

10:12

so they were like you've never done a sport you your

10:15

body stature is like made for gymnastics And

10:17

they're like that's not normal and

10:19

so they were they sent a letter home, and I

10:21

gave it to my parents My mom saw

10:24

it and she was like okay Do you want

10:26

to do the one with the four events or do you want to

10:28

do tumbling and then maybe you'll go to cheerleading? And

10:30

I was like I want to do the one with the four of it, and

10:33

that's how I started it is truly

10:36

fascinating that like some people you hear that are so

10:38

great like Tom Brady for example you think of Tom

10:40

and they're like Oh, he was a little awkward, and

10:43

it's like kind of crazy that like Tom can even

10:45

like run the way He can't yeah for you It's

10:47

the complete opposite where you like you walked into the

10:49

gym and people were like yeah Who is that girl

10:52

yeah, and you had never done any of this before

10:54

cuz I was gonna ask you like Was

10:56

there ever once you started an aha

10:59

moment that you were like holy shit

11:01

I'm actually really good at this never

11:03

for me everybody else always saw it and

11:05

since I was always The smallest

11:08

in my class the shortest I thought they would

11:10

always be like oh my god. She's so good

11:12

She's so cute. She has so much talent I

11:14

just thought it was like what your grandmother does

11:16

when she comes around every year like oh You

11:19

look so good like I thought really that's

11:21

what it was and I'm like you're just

11:23

saying that because I'm so short So it

11:25

took a while for me to really like

11:28

lean into my talent and to realize oh

11:30

my gosh I could do something or be

11:32

someone because Once I started I

11:34

did it for fun nobody in my family has ever

11:36

done gymnastics So they have no idea where the talent

11:38

came from My

11:41

my siblings were really good at track But that's

11:43

kind of it were you in school did people

11:45

make comments about how short you were like were

11:47

that you were sure Yes, because like you could

11:50

always grow so they were like we're just waiting

11:52

for her growth Which I'm

11:54

still waiting. I tell God like finish it when

11:56

I'm done with gymnastics, so maybe we're not done

11:58

yet the doctor probably I think my girl plays

12:01

her clothes, but that's a different story. I love it, you're

12:03

like, it's gonna happen. But other than

12:05

that, they all saw it.

12:07

They would say like, they gave me this nickname,

12:09

Soldier, because my muscles and all of this stuff.

12:11

And so like, one time I beat this kid

12:13

up on the playground because he said, oh, I

12:16

bet you can't beat me up. And I was

12:18

always the kid that, if you said I couldn't

12:20

do something, I'm doing it. And I think I'm

12:22

still that way, like, I'm doing it. I was

12:24

gonna say, I feel like getting into this sport,

12:26

any sport at the competitive level that you're dealing

12:29

with, you have to have such discipline and drive.

12:32

And I'm wondering like, where did that come

12:34

from, this competitiveness in you? I don't

12:37

know, but if I had to pinpoint, like

12:39

my parents were very hard workers, me and

12:41

my sister were pretty much always on top

12:43

of our schoolwork. And we were

12:45

just kind of self-driven and I don't know

12:47

where it came from, but I think it

12:49

started from my parents just seeing how hard

12:52

they work, everything that they've done for us,

12:54

for our siblings. It's

12:57

kind of something that was a little bit

12:59

taught in that nature too. Yeah, when

13:02

you do compete at this level, I

13:04

know that for athletes, it's like, it's

13:06

not just you committing your life. Your

13:09

entire family has to get on board. It's a

13:11

lifestyle change. When do you think

13:13

you guys really all decided like, oh, as

13:15

a family, we're going for this? Probably

13:18

the whole

13:20

family started making sacrifices when my

13:23

practices started going late and

13:25

then dinnertime started to change or they would have

13:28

to leave stuff in the oven or on the

13:30

stove and they were like, okay, she's really doing

13:32

this, but none of us knew how far it

13:35

was gonna take us and to end up where we

13:37

are. We just kind of thought like, oh,

13:40

she's doing these flips. She likes it, she

13:42

enjoys it. As long as she's having a

13:44

good time, we're gonna let her continue because

13:46

my parents were always the first to say,

13:48

if you wanna quit, let us know, we'll

13:50

pull you out. Cause you went to public

13:52

school till eighth grade, right? Correct. And

13:54

then you officially did homeschooling starting high

13:57

school. Did you get to have

13:59

any like typical? like did you go to

14:01

prom? None. The first time I

14:03

danced with a boy was on Dancing with the Stars with Sasha. And

14:06

it was after the Olympics, I was like 19 years

14:08

old. I remember he like got in my face, grabbed

14:10

me and I was like, ahh, like freaking out. Smoon.

14:14

No. No. Talk

14:16

about like a culture shock. I was about to

14:18

say the fact, I would need to hear if

14:20

there's anyone in the world that could say that

14:22

statement. The first time I ever danced with a

14:24

boy was on Dancing with the Stars, literally.

14:27

Icon. Icon. Like

14:30

it's giving like only you. Oh you can.

14:32

Okay so you never got, do you have

14:34

sleepovers? Some, but

14:36

then at that time we had moved like

14:39

40 minutes away. So if we ever wanted

14:41

to have a sleepover, it was more like

14:43

your mom drops us off, your dad brings

14:45

her because like the distance. So

14:47

other than that, we'd have some best friends

14:49

come sleepover, but then it was kind of

14:51

like, okay, if you stay around Friday, you're

14:53

not leaving till Sunday. So we had sleepovers,

14:55

but then again, it started turning into, sorry,

14:57

I have practice on Saturday. So

15:00

then go to the gym, we'll drop you off.

15:02

That sort of thing. Like your life revolves around

15:04

it. Everything. Which is. Revolved around

15:06

gymnastics. And if people don't play sports, like I

15:08

look back, I'm like, okay, can I relate to that? I'm like, yeah,

15:10

growing up, most of my friends were just

15:12

soccer friends. Cause you're just kind of becoming a family

15:15

and they're like your sisters. Yeah. I

15:17

think in middle school, that's when the insecurities started

15:20

and I kind of became a

15:22

shell of myself, but I feel like

15:24

nobody really understood why I was like

15:26

racing to my locker to get my

15:28

gym equipment. And then like at the

15:30

time our housekeeper would take me to

15:32

practice and all of this stuff. So

15:35

nothing I did at that point was

15:37

relatable and it was very hard to

15:39

not make friends and

15:41

to just keep them up because I couldn't hang out

15:43

with them on the weekends. I couldn't go to Friday

15:45

night live. I couldn't do anything on the weekends. I

15:47

was going to gymnastics meet. I was doing this at

15:49

the other. So to me, it was like, let

15:52

me get my schoolwork done. I have like

15:54

three friends, like at the loser table, and

15:57

I'll do my stuff at the gym. And yeah.

16:00

It was really hard to relate because they're doing who

16:02

knows what and like they're like texting boys on

16:04

a I am and you're like in the Like

16:08

the only way I know is gym Like

16:11

literally and do you know like did you

16:13

ever be like why am I doing this?

16:15

Like why am I doing at that point?

16:18

No, because I still love to do it and I

16:20

had all my friends at the gym And that's kind of

16:22

all I needed at that point. But going into high

16:24

school I was like mad

16:27

at my parents like mad

16:29

as hell like you figure it out Why

16:31

I can't do school and gym like you

16:34

figure it out Like some of my friends

16:36

could do it because their states allowed that

16:38

and that's at the time I started doing

16:41

national team camp and we missed so much

16:43

school. So I didn't have a choice but

16:45

like California as long as

16:47

you did your schoolwork and I can't speak on

16:49

the rules of the laws now But just how

16:52

it was back then they could miss however, as

16:54

long as they got their score done out of

16:56

it But Texas law states you can only miss

16:58

X amount before they fail you even if you

17:00

do your schoolwork so that just wasn't an option

17:02

for us and it's not like we were ever

17:04

gonna move or do anything because like Texas

17:07

have kind of the best gymnastics and That's

17:10

what it was. But I Wanted

17:12

to go to the football games. I wanted to

17:14

go to the school dances I wanted to but

17:18

it was okay that I didn't because I knew I

17:20

wasn't Confident

17:22

enough in my body to show my muscles at

17:24

that time I wore a lot of hoodies and

17:26

I didn't want my muscles to show because then

17:28

at that point I'm stronger than all the boys

17:30

because they haven't they haven't bulked up yet and

17:32

I'm just like hey nobody really understood. So It

17:36

was okay Right. I get what

17:38

you're saying. It's almost like it was okay for

17:40

you to escape to the gym Yeah, because you

17:42

felt more confident there and everybody had muscles and

17:44

we all looked the same I do remember one

17:46

of my friends snuck me into high school one

17:48

day and I got to go around with her

17:50

To each class and I thought that was the best

17:52

day ever. I was like And

17:55

her teachers just played along with it. They were like if

17:57

the principal catches us, who knows what we'll do, but I.

18:00

Get our whole entire day with her and that was

18:02

so cool. Will. It's incredible

18:04

to look back and as much as

18:06

you sacrifice to the sacrifices clearly paid

18:08

off Because when you were sixteen is

18:10

when you're winning streak. Just really

18:13

began you one. Three consecutive World

18:15

Championship and then you went on

18:17

to. Job. Membership at it

18:19

jaw many the Rio Olympics. When

18:21

you look back at that time

18:23

of your life like, what does

18:26

that Success means You. Want. To

18:28

me, I thought that's. Kind of were

18:30

in. did. And I was

18:32

like. Oh. My gosh, how

18:34

have I reached my greatest achievement in life

18:36

at night plants? I was scared for the

18:38

rest my life. Like how can I beat

18:40

this? How can I thought? that's what the

18:42

heck am I gonna do? I won the

18:44

Olympics at nineteen like. Gonna

18:47

be a shit hole from here on. How. We're going down.

18:50

Hill literally because most people

18:52

don't get ten. Go. To

18:55

more than one olympics or do those things self

18:57

at one point others like. My

19:00

greatest like. This is the greatest

19:02

thing that I wanted to achieve in my life. And.

19:05

Then I was. I. I. Did it.

19:07

At nineteen you almost like we're excited for

19:09

two seconds to then be like can I

19:11

even and actually enjoy this because it's Does

19:13

this mean it's over? Yes in so I

19:16

was scared but at that time you couldn't

19:18

really tell me anything because I was like

19:20

oh my gosh. I did it

19:22

and I knew as soon as that happens,

19:24

We've watched previous Olympics so we know

19:27

how their life. Change. After that

19:29

I'm so I knew it was gonna be different

19:31

but I knew it was going to be different

19:33

every day. At the Olympics my followers god can

19:35

thousand and then I had a million in the

19:37

north like. What? The heck is

19:39

happening and why are people following the I was like

19:41

at that point I was like yes this is my

19:44

greatest achievement because I been. Vying. for

19:46

the since I was six years old per

19:48

se. but then I was like. But.

19:50

Ya haven't watched the come up the why do you

19:52

care like this My greatest you it cool. It was

19:54

kind of weird to me that people were following me

19:56

because I had won the Olympics. It has to me

19:58

that was the biggest thing. But out

20:01

of how that the biggest thing for you. To. Follow

20:03

me because I will miss a Was kind of

20:05

weird and then I was like okay I really

20:07

need to find out who I am without gymnastics

20:09

because I didn't think I was going to do

20:11

it again when the rise really started. Like I

20:13

think about. The. Pressure than Xy people

20:15

put on you with like oh my

20:17

god you're You're so great we all

20:20

were looking at your Simone Biles your

20:22

you just did the Olympics year of

20:24

yeah rising You're getting gold Like did

20:26

you ever feel like. You weren't

20:28

allowed to have moments of weakness.

20:31

A lot of the time be phase. On

20:34

a lot of the teams like a lot

20:36

of the girls are step to me so

20:38

I felt like I was that strong person

20:40

that everybody was like oh my god someones

20:43

so strong. She has a strong personality. If.

20:46

You had something to describe me as Charlotte.

20:48

Before that word say felt like I could

20:50

never show a sign of weakness, but I

20:52

just always felt like I was a strong

20:54

one for my friends. a strong ones from

20:56

my family. the strong one. So I was

20:58

just kind of like I got to a

21:00

point. Where. It was so hard for

21:02

me to cry or show emotions, but I also

21:04

think that came from gymnastics. It's like throw all

21:07

that out the window, work on what you need

21:09

to work on, and than outside at the gym.

21:12

Whatever. Happens happens on So yeah,

21:14

it was. Weird. Different.

21:16

difficult but at that point again I'm

21:18

only nineteen years old. Although they can

21:20

say to someone like when you're saying

21:22

like I had to be strong, like

21:25

I'm technically like the older one at

21:27

the gym, I've now gone to the

21:29

Olympics like I know were doing like

21:31

you're strong for your family Like who

21:33

did you like go to to say

21:35

like hey, like yeah, I'm I'm stressed.

21:37

I have hobbies followers. I had the

21:39

world's that we see a lot of

21:41

the time if it worked was my

21:43

sister cause we're very very very close.

21:45

If. It wasn't her. Silent. right?

21:47

I didn't like to see anybody. Like.

21:50

I didn't want anybody to ever see me

21:52

cry. Why. Because. I didn't want them

21:54

to show or see that it was a sign of

21:56

weakness. So. i was a lot of silent

21:58

night it's where i would cry be even

22:00

after the Olympics I went home and like

22:02

we went on tour and stuff but there

22:04

would be a lot of times where I

22:06

felt so alone because like how

22:09

many kids can relate 19 years old you

22:11

won the Olympics and then the you have

22:13

the weight of the world on your shoulders

22:15

I'm still learning it's just like now

22:17

I'm a celebrity I don't know what I

22:19

want to do with my life I don't

22:21

know if I can do this again everybody's

22:23

cheering me on it's just like it was

22:25

an overnight sensation so to speak

22:28

even though like people that watch gymnastics watched

22:30

for the four years prior watched my whole entire career

22:32

but to just be like thrown out there I

22:35

was kind of confused but then somebody told me

22:37

it was lonely at the top and so I

22:39

would relay that message in my head and it

22:42

was like positive sometimes like yeah it's only at the

22:44

top and then other times it was like it

22:47

felt hard and heavy right you're like I

22:49

don't know if I want to be at the top if it's

22:52

this lonely like if it's this isolated because I'm only 19 so

22:55

we wanted our life to be as normal

22:57

as possible and so I think that's why

22:59

I'm so grounded with my family and all

23:01

because we never wanted it to take over

23:03

because we've seen how how

23:05

that can happen but again

23:08

I was just a kid I was home schooled

23:10

I didn't have much it's like well as I'm

23:12

listening to you talk about this too it's like

23:14

yeah there's so much pressure

23:17

that is yeah put on young athletes

23:21

then when you are the star athlete at

23:23

a young age there's more pressure to like

23:25

grow up and become an adult soon because

23:27

everyone's everything's riding on you it feels like

23:30

in your own microscope yeah and then you

23:32

have the press looking at you

23:34

and and sans and you're like now I need

23:36

to become media trained and now I need to

23:38

learn how to like like know

23:40

how to just handle myself again at 19

23:42

years old and something that I'm realizing you're

23:44

saying talking about how you had to bear

23:46

a lot of this on your own with

23:49

all of your success then

23:52

there was behind the scenes so much

23:55

fucking going on yeah and in 2018

23:58

yeah spoke out about

24:00

the abuse that you endured from the USA

24:02

Gymnastics position. Yeah. I'm

24:05

so curious, Simone, like, can

24:08

you talk about your decision to open

24:10

up about that? The main reason I

24:12

did that is because a lot

24:15

of people follow me, a lot of people

24:17

go on my platforms, and I've always been

24:19

an open and honest book from the very

24:21

beginning, and I've always decided I'm not going

24:23

to let anything ever change me because

24:25

this is who I am, so take it or leave

24:27

it. But I've always been an open book, like, I

24:30

was talking to my friend the other day, and she

24:32

was like, I met you in three minutes, we went

24:34

from talking about this to, like, deep stuff. And it's

24:36

just like, a lot of people when they meet me,

24:38

they can feel that. But it's, after

24:42

that, I decided to speak out because I

24:44

know it could help a

24:46

lot of people. So if I could shine a

24:49

light on whatever that is, then I'm going to

24:51

do that. But I wanted to be in a

24:53

good enough place and to have

24:55

the proper help lined up before I

24:58

spoke out because that stuff was so

25:00

traumatizing. And I truly don't understand

25:03

how I did what I did under

25:05

those circumstances and how I put on

25:07

a face. But, you know, at

25:11

some point, as an athlete, you were an athlete,

25:13

so you understand, it's like, we normalize

25:15

a lot of stuff, but then we push

25:17

off emotions. It's like, we

25:20

do so much. It's this, like, you

25:22

can create this, like, false narrative in

25:24

your head of what you should endure

25:26

and what's normal. And that's all you

25:28

know. That's all we knew. So we

25:30

thought it was normal because we're all

25:33

homeschooled there together. It's like... But

25:35

you're all going through the same thing. Yeah. So if

25:37

we're talking to each other, and if this is happening

25:39

to you, this is happening to you. Okay.

25:42

Cool. It's normalized. What we're

25:44

talking about also is, like, there's so

25:46

many different forms of abuse, but, like,

25:48

the abuse of power is...

25:51

It's such a tricky situation, and we

25:54

see it so often. But, like,

25:56

we're having a conversation about, one, someone

25:58

that you were... told to trust,

26:00

but also by an organization that was

26:03

supposed to protect you and foster your

26:05

career. And so there's so much, yes,

26:07

abuse mentally, physically, emotionally, but like, I'm

26:09

curious because I think sometimes when people

26:11

look at you, it's like Simone Biles,

26:13

like the face of mental health and

26:15

she's the best, but it's like on

26:18

the real day to day, like this

26:20

shit is fucking to go

26:22

through and people weren't with you on the day

26:24

to day. Once you decided to speak

26:26

out about this, like how

26:28

did processing this trauma show up in

26:31

your day to day life? Well,

26:33

at that point I was

26:36

diagnosed with depression

26:38

and anxiety and I

26:40

kind of knew I was

26:43

depressed, but I

26:46

hit it so well because I train

26:48

34 hours a week. So what

26:50

do I always do whenever I'm at home? I'm

26:52

in my room laying down resting, resting,

26:55

resting, but I knew this resting was very

26:57

different. Like it was hard to get out

26:59

of bed. It was hard to do anything.

27:01

It felt like everything felt heavy in the

27:03

end of the world. And again,

27:05

a lot of sleepless crying nights

27:07

like why me? Because it's just

27:11

like, and then you kind of play

27:13

victim and then it seems like again,

27:15

nobody can relate to you. Nobody's listening.

27:17

Nobody is. I trusted this person, this

27:19

at the other. So it just felt

27:22

very, I wouldn't

27:25

even say dehumanizing, but it

27:27

felt like I held a lot of the guilt that wasn't

27:29

mine to hold. Yes. And I

27:31

think that was

27:34

the hardest for me to process. And

27:36

I learned through therapy, like, yes,

27:38

this is not my guilt to hold, but to

27:41

convince myself that because it's easier said

27:43

than done, but I

27:46

was really, really hard. And I think

27:48

I'm still working on that in therapy. Like

27:50

it's gotten a lot better and I feel

27:52

comfortable and now I can have conversations and

27:54

stuff like that. But

27:56

yeah, I have good days. I have bad days, but I

27:58

also know that. doesn't define me. It

28:01

does not define you at all.

28:03

It's an experience you went through. I

28:06

do think it's unfortunate

28:08

how so few people

28:10

understand. So like this,

28:12

this is something that is a part of you

28:14

for the rest of your life. It doesn't define

28:16

you. But when people are like, okay,

28:19

like it's never over. Yes. And

28:21

that's, I think as an

28:23

athlete, that was the hardest thing for me to

28:25

process too, because you know, if you

28:27

get injured, you go to the doctor and they're like, okay,

28:31

three to six months, or three weeks or

28:33

whatever. And this is like years and I'm

28:35

like, why do I not feel better? Like

28:37

if a doctor could sit down and tell

28:39

me, I'd be great. Because I thought like,

28:41

oh, three to six months, three to six

28:43

weeks, it's like, we're

28:45

always on timeline with injuries. So whenever

28:48

it's a mental injury, or a physical

28:50

injury that you're going through like that

28:52

with depression and anxiety, and nobody can

28:54

give you a timeline, it feels like

28:56

it's never ending. And I was like,

28:59

I just don't understand, I should be fine by

29:01

now. And doesn't that bring up sometimes like, there's

29:04

shame that comes with it? You're like, why the fuck

29:06

is this not going to be like, I'm not going

29:08

to want to be in 10 years talking about this.

29:10

And somebody's gonna be like, God, here

29:12

she goes again. But it's like, but I

29:15

do think you talking about it, Mona. And

29:17

that's why I think it's really important how

29:19

you said this does not define you. Yeah,

29:21

it's also important to show people when people

29:23

are like, that's so sad that happened to

29:25

someone. And then they move on with their

29:28

lives. Yeah, this is something that stays with

29:30

people forever. Yeah. And so to neglect the

29:32

conversation of like, acting like it didn't happen,

29:34

you did. And you are who you are. But it's

29:36

a piece of you. And as a part of you,

29:38

I also think that's such

29:40

an interesting comparison. And like, if you

29:43

mess up your ankle, yeah, it's visible,

29:46

you can feel it, you can't ignore

29:48

it with trauma. Emotionally, you

29:50

can shut that shit down and you

29:53

can bury it so far. That's the

29:55

thing we're so good at as athletes

29:57

at doing that too. And

30:00

my therapist is like, just

30:02

take it out of the box. Roll it

30:04

out on the floor. It's fine

30:07

because we're so good at

30:09

depressing everything. So

30:12

it's like, God. So

30:15

for so long, it's worked until it

30:18

didn't anymore. And that's what you

30:20

saw at the Olympics, a big old spill. And I

30:22

was like, to me, I

30:24

couldn't understand why that happened either. Because I'm

30:26

like, gymnastics, what the

30:28

heck is going on? And

30:31

then my therapist said, well, we

30:33

know why it happened. And I still have conversations

30:35

with her to this day. And I'm like, hey,

30:38

look, it's Olympic year. Did

30:40

we figure out why that happened? And she's

30:42

like, Simone, we figured

30:44

out why this has happened. I was like, are we

30:46

sure? Are we sure? Like,

30:48

because she can't happen again. Yes, but it's

30:51

like, it wasn't just

30:53

a mental injury that

30:55

happened called the twisties. It's

30:58

like compressing

31:00

all of this shit for so many years,

31:03

it just unfolded. Like

31:06

you can't compress trauma that much

31:08

longer. And I hate to be

31:10

the person that blames it

31:12

on something else because I'd rather blame it on like,

31:14

I have a hang now, sorry, you can't vault. Like,

31:18

or whatever it is. Like, I wish I

31:20

could say like, money. Yes, and

31:22

at that point after I came out about it,

31:24

they're like, she doesn't wanna lose. And

31:26

then I was like, first

31:28

of all, I almost broke my leg, but

31:30

thankfully I didn't break my leg. And I

31:32

called my agent and I was like, this

31:35

is a mental injury that they can't see.

31:37

Do they want me to wear a helmet?

31:40

I'm like, because they couldn't see it. So they couldn't relate

31:42

to it. They couldn't grasp it. It's not something that I

31:44

could tell them so that they could feel like, if I

31:47

broke my ankle, they'd be like, should I

31:49

broke my ankle before too? Like, I know how that feels. Of

31:51

course you can't vault. But for

31:53

a mental injury, nobody could understand it.

31:55

So there were so many narratives thrown

31:57

around, so many different excuses.

31:59

that were pushed onto me, and

32:02

I think the shittiest part of

32:04

all at the Olympics, I

32:07

have very good like, senses,

32:11

and I knew something was gonna go wrong.

32:14

I couldn't pinpoint what it was, or when

32:16

it was gonna happen, but I just

32:18

have this feeling deep down, this

32:20

is not gonna go the way I want it to, and

32:23

I don't know why, but I have this

32:25

deep, deep feeling, like something's gonna happen. To

32:27

people that, I mean, aren't familiar, yes. You

32:29

went to the Tokyo Olympics, and I'm curious,

32:31

like, so you're saying you kinda knew, like,

32:34

when do you think you knew, like where

32:36

were you mentally going into the Tokyo Olympics?

32:42

I don't know, but I could

32:44

feel something, and I

32:46

felt myself, besides all the pressure, because we

32:48

deal with that as elite athletes, we have

32:50

different tactics about how we're going to carry

32:53

ourselves, and how we're gonna do

32:55

whatever, so that we can still compete to the best of

32:57

our ability, but

32:59

there was something that I could feel that was gonna be

33:01

out of my control, and

33:03

I didn't know when it was gonna happen, or

33:06

what was gonna happen, but

33:08

I was like, I just,

33:10

I felt strange, but I'm not gonna

33:12

tell anybody on the team that. I'm

33:14

a veteran, it's everyone's first time at

33:16

the Olympics, like, they're looking up to

33:18

me, and I'm guiding them, taking them

33:20

through the route, but nothing about that

33:22

Olympics is normal anyways. We're having a

33:24

pandemic, the whole world is shut down,

33:27

nothing about the Olympic Games was

33:29

normal, and I feel for those athletes that

33:31

might not ever be able to go to

33:33

another Olympic Games, because that is not what

33:36

the Olympics is about. In

33:38

2016, it was so much fun, the camaraderie,

33:41

the team spirit, everybody's rooting

33:44

for everybody. I feel like that's world peace. Time

33:46

stops, doesn't matter what color you are,

33:48

what religion you are, what you support,

33:50

what you don't support, everybody comes together

33:52

to support their athletes and their country.

33:54

It was just very strange, but I

33:57

could feel something, like the

33:59

wires weren't connected. Like the red, the

34:01

yellow, off. Something was off. And in

34:03

training up to Tokyo, did you feel

34:05

that too? A

34:10

little bit, but we had been

34:13

training so hard and we were prepared.

34:15

Like we were so prepared. I've never

34:17

been so prepared for an event in

34:20

my life. I'm obviously besides 2016, but

34:23

this felt like a different kind of prepared and

34:26

it felt a little bit more calm. Isn't

34:28

that so crazy? Like I'm listening to you,

34:30

like you're like, I'm on the plane ride

34:33

to Tokyo and I knew. Like I knew

34:35

something. Like something in effect was weird. And

34:37

you didn't know when, but like that's again,

34:39

like the body just telling you like something

34:41

ain't right. Simone, we're not good. And you're

34:44

like, push it down, we're fine. And to

34:46

me, I was like, it's

34:48

fine. Take your medicine. And

34:50

some of the days we're

34:52

asking my doctor, I'm gonna take two of my pills.

34:55

I never take two of my pills, but I was

34:57

like, something's coming up. It feels like I don't know

34:59

what it is, but like I

35:01

cannot control this. It is out of my control.

35:03

So we're gonna control what we can control. Let's

35:06

take your medicine. Maybe try 20 milligrams,

35:09

maybe try this. And

35:11

it was just like, it

35:14

was a weirdest experience. And whenever I look back

35:16

at it, it doesn't seem real

35:18

life. Which maybe

35:20

is a good thing. Right, you're like, it's kind

35:22

of like, it's a good thing till everybody reminds

35:25

me. As I'm sitting here being

35:27

like, so let's talk about the final in Tokyo.

35:29

I'm curious, we know what happened. You

35:32

get lost in the air during your

35:34

vault and everyone was shocked. But I'm

35:36

curious, like, take me to the moment,

35:38

literally when you land on the mat,

35:42

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hire. Take me

37:38

to the moment literally when you land

37:41

on the mat, what

37:43

is going through your mind? Okay, I'll start from the

37:45

back of the runway when we're standing there. Go back to the

37:47

runway. So in the back, like

37:49

we already knew my gymnastics was kind of janky. Like

37:53

in training, I was having twisties already,

37:55

but I'm trying to push past that. And

37:57

I would literally tell my teammates like, I'm

38:00

fighting demons. I'm fighting demons right

38:02

now, but I'm going to do it for you guys. Because

38:05

like, it was the cords were not connected.

38:07

So I literally felt like I was

38:10

fighting my body and my mind

38:12

to do these tricks. So we're trying

38:14

to do some

38:16

different things in the back and I'm like, okay, I can't

38:18

do a full and off beam. Can I please go back

38:21

to my double double, which is way harder, but I know

38:23

if I twist more it's better for me. So

38:25

then we go to vault vault is feeling a little bit

38:28

weird in the air and you can see it like the

38:30

girls, we ended on floor because we started

38:32

on vault out there. So we end

38:34

on floor. I go to do my first pass and

38:36

you can see in the air. Like you can ask

38:38

the girls. It's not like my first

38:40

pass is a triple double. And usually when you

38:42

do it, you see my regular videos. You

38:46

see one, you see two, you see three. This

38:48

one, it looks like I'm going like this in the

38:50

air and it doesn't feel comfortable. I have no idea

38:52

where I am, but I'm twisting like praying land on

38:54

my feet. And they're like, that

38:56

looks jacked up. You can tell all of the gymnasts

38:59

in there from all of the countries are like, that's

39:02

jacked up. That looks jacked up. It

39:04

looks like she's never done this today in her life, but they know

39:06

it's a twisty. So people are kind of trying not to watch. We

39:09

get out there and ball and I was like, okay, it's fine. I

39:11

warmed up everything. Like it wasn't good, but I

39:13

did it. And so we get

39:16

that out there on ball and we have a one touch warm up, go

39:18

over the table, do a one and a half. And

39:21

I'm like, what the fuck? Like,

39:24

what was that? And so I'm like, it's

39:27

fine. And everybody's freaking out. I

39:29

don't have another touch. So I have to go stand there

39:31

until it's my turn to salute and go. I don't have

39:33

another touch. So the girls are like, can you explain it

39:35

to people that have no idea what gymnastics like they're like,

39:37

what, what do you mean? gymnastics. Once we

39:39

go out there, we usually have a one touch vault and it

39:41

is what it is. It's to warm up. You're, you're usually

39:44

sitting in the back for 40, 45 minutes come out. You

39:47

get one turn to take to warm up your

39:49

vault to perfection. And then you sit

39:51

there and wait till it's your turn to salute

39:53

and Hey, I'm at the Olympics. You know, that's

39:55

your debut before, you know, and so we go

39:58

out there. And I

40:00

do the one and a half and

40:02

my teammates are shook. They're like, are

40:04

you okay? Are you okay? And I'm trying to convince myself I'm

40:06

okay. So I don't need you asking me if I'm okay. Because

40:09

I'm okay. Listen, I'm okay. We're great. Like,

40:12

everything is not okay. Literally. And so they're

40:14

like, you're fine. And I was like,

40:17

I don't know why I did that. I

40:19

don't know why. And

40:22

I knew once I got up there, I'm chalking up. We

40:25

can't put Jordan in yet. I

40:28

have to go. I have to put up a score.

40:30

No matter what it is over the table, I have

40:32

to put up a score. So I'm chalking up and

40:35

you can see if you watch the video, I'm like, because

40:39

I have no idea what I'm going to do when I hit that table.

40:42

And so in my head, I'm standing there and I'm like,

40:45

I'll just do the double pike, which I haven't

40:47

warmed up in like four days. And

40:49

I'm like, if I do a double pike, over rotate it, it's fine. And

40:51

then I was like, they put up a score for a two and a

40:53

half. So I have to do a two and a half. And

40:56

I'm thinking if I do a double back, that's

40:58

so dangerous. My coach will kill me. My team

41:00

will never forgive. And I saluted and I was

41:02

like, praying

41:04

to God because I knew I was going to do

41:08

a vault, but I didn't know what I was going to do. And

41:10

I knew I was going to try to do a two and a half, but I

41:12

didn't know how many twists I was going to make. And

41:14

I just, because I couldn't twist

41:16

anymore. It's just like your body, your brain opens up,

41:19

have no idea where you are. So I opened, landed

41:21

like that. And as soon as I land,

41:23

I kind of grin and I'm like, and

41:25

I salute. And I want to run. If

41:28

I could have gotten a plane and flown home, I would have done it. But

41:31

I just, as soon as I landed, I was like, oh,

41:38

America hates me. The

41:40

world is going to hate me. And

41:42

I can only see what they're saying on Twitter

41:45

right now. That's, that was my first thought. I

41:47

was like, oh shit, what are they going to

41:49

say about me? Because usually if you go to

41:51

the Olympics and you flop or whatever it is,

41:53

everybody on their couch eating those little chips. Right.

41:57

Like you let the country down. Oh, I was, I

41:59

thought I was going to be. fan from America because that's what I

42:01

tell you, don't come back. If it's not gold, gold or

42:03

bust, don't come back. And I was like, I

42:06

don't think, can we

42:09

just pause also like you landing

42:11

and the first thing that you're

42:13

thinking should have been,

42:15

thank God I'm alive. Yeah. You

42:17

can severely hurt yourself in those moments

42:19

and you understandably, because this is

42:21

such an athlete thing. It's like

42:23

praise everyone, get, get everything for

42:25

everyone and just like sacrifice my

42:27

body at all costs. And you

42:29

land on the mat and you're

42:31

thinking what is Twitter saying? Yeah.

42:34

I was like, no, I'm going

42:36

to be one of those videos flops out

42:38

the Olympics. Like this is horrible. And I

42:40

knew I couldn't recover and I knew, I

42:42

know how long the twisty takes to get

42:44

over and I know it's not overnight. Can

42:46

you explain also to people that aren't familiar,

42:48

what is the twisties? Okay. If I

42:51

had to explain it in gymnastics terms, it's going to,

42:53

might not make sense, but it's basically like your mind

42:55

and your body is out of disconnect. Your body is

42:57

going to try to do something and your mind is

42:59

going to be like, no, you're not doing this work.

43:01

You're going to open out. You're going to do this,

43:03

but it's the same as if like the

43:05

best way I could describe it is every day you drive

43:07

a car. If one day you woke

43:10

up and you had no idea how to drive a

43:12

car, your legs are going crazy, you have no control

43:14

over your body. That's kind of how it feels like

43:16

you've been doing something for so long and you now

43:18

no longer have control and it's

43:20

terrifying because we're

43:23

in a car without any protection. I

43:25

am my car. Like, so I

43:27

would explain it as like the yips in

43:30

golf or baseball or whatever it is, I'm

43:32

not familiar with other

43:34

sports. So if I'm wrong, correct me,

43:36

but that's kind of, that's

43:38

kind of how it feels like. So immediately

43:41

when you get off the map, what do you do?

43:44

I go to tell my coach and I said, I'm

43:46

done. I'm not doing anymore because if I survived

43:49

that, I don't know how much else I can survive. Like

43:51

I always say in the cat was nine lives, but I

43:53

think that was my nine. I'm done. And she's

43:55

like, are you sure? And I was like, yes, Jordan

43:57

gear up. You're in, you're doing the rest of the

43:59

meet. I'm not. Like I can't do

44:01

it. And are you like internally freaking out? But

44:04

you're coming off internally but I I

44:06

didn't want to freak out in front of the girls

44:08

got it So I kept like as composed as I

44:10

could have and I was like you guys got this

44:12

and then they just went We went

44:15

to the back just to get evaluated like

44:17

mentally and physically But we

44:19

also didn't want to I didn't want to scare the

44:21

girls I was like, can we please go in there's

44:23

cameras all the cameras rush over and I was just

44:25

like Because I know

44:27

what happened, but I also don't know what happened and why it

44:29

happened So we just went in the

44:31

back the girls are gearing up for bars I come

44:34

back out and I was like you guys got this

44:36

you'll be fine Trust me and they were like no

44:38

we can't do this out without you where we're

44:40

not gonna win anymore Duh duh duh. They're freaking out because they

44:42

also know what Twitter is gonna say if US doesn't win and

44:44

I was like Don't worry about it You guys are here because

44:46

you're the best in the world and you will be like go

44:49

out there and do your job But I think

44:51

it was really hard on them because

44:53

mentally they lost their best

44:56

player the veteran like I Think

44:58

it was really hard on them so that's something

45:00

that I'll never forgive myself for for that

45:03

whole entire experience because I wish I could have

45:05

been in there with Them

45:08

in a way that I was supposed to physically

45:10

putting up team scores putting them But

45:12

after that I became their loudest and

45:14

best cheerleader But

45:17

I just wish I it would have been Contributing the

45:19

way that it was supposed to happen. I think that's

45:21

so hard When you're

45:23

an athlete you understand that moment where you're

45:25

like you logically know there was nothing else

45:27

you could have done nothing But nothing your

45:29

brain is illogical when you're in those moments

45:32

Of course with your teammates where you're like,

45:34

I will literally like die for this

45:36

And that's what I was that's what I was doing. That's

45:38

what I was putting myself Through

45:40

in the back and that's why I

45:43

don't know how I made it that far through warm-ups

45:45

through competing I don't know how I landed on my

45:47

feet and I think that's what people don't Realize

45:50

is like that's not the vault that

45:52

I was supposed to compete I had a whole

45:54

nother fort twist that I was supposed to

45:56

compete so they're like she didn't want to lose and I was like

45:58

No, no, no, no I'm not

46:01

like, my pride

46:03

is not that big. Like, you know

46:05

what I'm saying? So at that point, it's like, you

46:07

know what? I need to take care of myself and

46:09

I need to do what's right for my team. And

46:12

yeah, I need to let my pride not get in

46:14

the way and push through this just to compete, to

46:16

compete at the Olympics again. I

46:18

need to go sit down, take a rest, see

46:21

what's wrong mentally, and let's figure it out,

46:23

but let's still give my team a chance

46:25

of mental contention. Because again, what

46:27

people also don't realize is if I got hurt on

46:29

that vault, they couldn't replace me. So

46:32

if I got hurt, since

46:35

I'm on every event, it's two up, two count. We would have

46:37

never won a medal. But

46:39

since what happened happened, we went to

46:41

the back. At that point, they

46:43

could rule it as a mental injury and all

46:46

of that stuff and physical. We got to put

46:48

Jordan in. People don't know that. What

46:50

happened in the back? Did you just try it?

46:52

Like, what happened? Doctors came over. I had to talk

46:55

to my family because

46:57

they were watching the Olympics and they see me get

46:59

WISSA back. So they thought I was hurt. And

47:02

I'm like, yeah, I'm hurt. My heart is

47:04

broken. Everything hurts, but my

47:07

knees are fine. I'm like, my brain hurts,

47:09

like everything. So I called my family

47:11

and it's so funny because

47:13

my sister was sleeping. No,

47:15

like the time I feel it looks like a

47:17

lot of you are sleeping. But there's a time

47:19

change, so I get it. But everybody's up in

47:22

the house cheering for me, Simone

47:24

gear on, and my sister's like, I

47:26

think I'll pick a nap. I think

47:29

I'll sit this one out. Simone's got it. So

47:31

they wake her up? No, she heard the

47:33

phone ring because I called the home phone and

47:35

she said she was sleeping and she felt

47:38

something was wrong. She ran to the kitchen

47:40

to instead, I'll answer it and

47:42

saw my name on it. Oh,

47:44

that's freaky. Freaky. And she answered

47:46

and she said, hello. And as soon as I

47:48

heard her voice, I just, I lost it. You're

47:50

crying. I was like, I'm out, I'm done. And

47:55

she was like, are you okay? And I was like, yeah,

47:58

can you hit the phone? like,

48:02

you're like, mom. Yeah, like

48:05

come pick me up, I'm scared. Literally,

48:07

mom come pick me up, I'm scared. I'm in

48:09

Tokyo and you're back in the United States. What

48:11

did your mom say? She

48:13

was like, are you okay? Because

48:16

that was her main concern, she thought I got

48:18

hurt. And at that

48:20

point, like, yeah, I wish my toe was sticking

48:22

on the side of my foot or my knees

48:25

weren't cracked or something because that would have been

48:27

easier to explain. It's

48:29

also just like as an athlete, you're so

48:31

right, it's like the feeling of trying, it's

48:33

you're supposed to be the testest. Yeah. We're

48:36

like, you're invincible. Yeah. What do you

48:38

mean, we can't see the injury, so you're fine. Yeah, and

48:40

I'm like, yeah, sorry, I came here, my brain just decided

48:42

to have a malfunction and break. Yeah,

48:45

how do you describe that to people? How do

48:47

you tweet that one to the world? That's what I'm

48:49

saying. But then whenever I really talked

48:51

about it and there were actually a

48:53

lot of people that understood and we

48:57

got a lot of positive feedback and that's why

48:59

I was like, you know what, you're

49:02

not gonna put me at the forefront of mental health, but again,

49:04

if I can be a voice, let's go

49:06

through this journey together because I know unfortunately

49:08

a lot of us are struggling, but let's

49:10

walk this journey together and let's go get

49:12

healthy. Absolutely. What

49:14

are your parents like on that call? Your mom's

49:16

checking for K. What is your dad

49:18

like in those moments? My dad

49:20

is always so calm and collected,

49:23

it seems. So he was

49:25

probably like, oh, is she okay? But

49:27

probably not even that concerned. He was probably like, is

49:30

she okay? Okay, okay.

49:33

Like I think that's just what he was doing.

49:35

My mom was like a mess. I could hear

49:37

her crying and breaking down and that's what broke

49:39

me too. It's because also I have

49:42

so many people who have helped me get

49:44

to where I was. Yep. And

49:47

I felt like I didn't just let

49:49

down myself. I let down that

49:51

team that was there. I let down

49:53

America. I let down my trainers. I

49:55

let down, there are so many people

49:58

That helped me get there and that's why every time. I

50:00

get to compete for Team Usa or I'm on

50:02

top of that podium. I'm so grateful that Metals

50:04

not just for me, it's for everybody that has

50:06

helped me get there. So it's like at that

50:08

point it was really happy. Cause. I

50:10

was like I'd I couldn't even at that point.

50:13

I couldn't even look at lower on. Like

50:16

the seal help me so much but i couldn't look

50:18

at around. One. I

50:20

felt like I failed him. And

50:22

I've never thought that out loud said like

50:24

in. And they've helped me get to that point

50:27

cause I never thought of going to do gymnastics to get. Inside.

50:30

Felt like I let them around. Now

50:32

having met him. I.

50:34

Get it? Yeah, like he has

50:37

such incredibly high standard for you

50:39

in the Valley away. And yeah,

50:41

so like. Fierce and

50:43

loyal. but yeah I think she doesn't

50:45

like he tried not let anything get

50:47

to him and I knew that got

50:50

to him. You ended up her to

50:52

speeding in the individual been competition a

50:54

day. a bronze medal. Yeah like how

50:57

did you know you are okay to

50:59

compete? I changed marriage team because I

51:01

didn't have to twist. flipping wasn't necessarily

51:04

the problem, it was flipping interesting and

51:06

sell am. One of

51:08

the gym, their let me go, train

51:10

their, and I have like videos from

51:12

that to of, and so they let

51:14

me change my dismount and. Done

51:17

a full in. For. Like. Eight

51:21

or so. Like seven years Or eight years I hadn't

51:23

done Double Page. I'm like. That long.

51:25

So going back and trying to control that

51:27

and I kept overwrote a me. It was

51:29

insane. I was so scared. Because

51:32

my just nonsense typically harder and so that

51:34

okay I can still do beam. If.

51:37

We change my dismount. And. We were

51:39

able to change it an. Eye

51:41

Family I didn't becomes get a medal. I was like

51:44

I just want to go out there compete. Because.

51:46

is what i came here to do or how

51:49

do you even like mentally get yourself together to

51:51

like after that moment with bought like it was

51:53

like four days later thank god you could yeah

51:55

i show you they pulled out of every final

51:57

but every time i pulled out of of final

51:59

I felt like it was another knife. So

52:04

I got to do beam and I was really excited and then

52:06

of course a lot of people hated that. Well of course she's

52:08

gonna do it for herself and I was like, you

52:10

don't see me twisting do you? Still not twisting.

52:13

But yeah, once

52:15

the score came up I was like, oh thank

52:18

God, made a beam routine. And

52:20

then we saw that I

52:22

was gonna medal and I hit the seal and I

52:24

said, what,

52:26

what? I'm gonna, a bronze?

52:29

And after Rio I got a bronze on

52:31

beam and I was shunned

52:33

and people were like, throw that medal away. You

52:35

should have got a gold because I did mess

52:37

up. But there's no telling

52:40

what the medal would have been but

52:42

I did mess up so I ended up with a bronze. And

52:45

so I was scarred from having

52:47

a bronze medal because I never really talked

52:49

about my bronze because people made me so

52:51

ashamed of it in Rio. And

52:54

so whenever I got that bronze, you couldn't tell me

52:56

that it was bronze, it felt like a gold to

52:58

me. Right, you're like, I'm just happy

53:00

I got a medal. Yeah, I'm happy I got back out

53:03

there. For people to be like, don't come home with that

53:05

bronze. It's like, sorry, do

53:07

you know how to do a cartwheel? That's what I'm

53:09

saying. Sorry, who are you to

53:12

say, don't come home with a bronze?

53:14

Yeah, it's crazy. I'll walk my ass

53:16

back into America, happily raise it around.

53:18

I'll take a bronze. Yeah, so it's

53:20

just like from one spectrum

53:22

to the other from having a real

53:25

bronze to a Tokyo bronze, it's like

53:27

polar opposites. Like I'm swinging that thing

53:29

around, people are like, you know

53:31

that's a bronze on my ass. We

53:34

got it. Like you couldn't tell

53:36

me that it was a bronze. You

53:39

got it. God bless. Okay,

53:42

take me to the plane ride. I'm

53:44

picturing you, you're like getting through

53:46

these Olympics at this point. You

53:48

get bronze, you're like, time to

53:50

go back home. That's

53:53

a long ass plane ride. Yeah, I was mentally,

53:56

physically exhausted, drained.

54:00

Have nothing left and I can't put on a

54:02

face anymore Like I physically

54:05

could not wait to land in Houston and they made us

54:07

go to New York Did you like the

54:10

today show or and

54:12

so I got my hair and makeup done whatever Still

54:16

putting on a great face because I'm like all

54:18

I want to do is hold my mom and

54:20

cry I want my mom like I just want

54:22

my mom and they're like just first today. So

54:24

sweetie smile And

54:27

so as soon as we landed in Houston again, there were

54:29

at the gate so many cameras So I still had to

54:31

put on a face I couldn't break down but I hugged

54:33

my mom and I just like felt comforted But

54:36

I couldn't break down till we got home and guess what when

54:38

I got home They throw a parade

54:40

and I had they're like get

54:42

ready Simone. We have a parade through the neighborhood

54:44

like get your convertible Smile

54:46

and wave it. Yeah, I just wanted to

54:48

have them like a breakdown and I didn't

54:51

want to have it this mental breakdown It

54:53

was waiting. No, it is sitting

54:55

in your chest. You're like, when can I sob?

54:57

When can I sit in my bed for 48

55:00

hours and not leave and just sob?

55:02

Yeah, and you had to do Yeah,

55:06

breathe At

55:08

that point you're like just wanted to cry

55:10

tears even come at this point I've been

55:12

holding him wanted to cry and be like

55:14

this was the shittiest thing ever. I don't

55:16

know why it happened I just wanted to

55:18

soak in my feelings and to

55:20

be by myself and I didn't want anybody to

55:23

tell me that it was okay anymore Because

55:26

I'm tired of everybody telling me it's okay. It's

55:28

okay to you. It's not okay to me. What happened

55:30

was not okay Like

55:33

so that that was that so when did you break

55:35

down? Probably when I had to unpack that suitcase and

55:38

Then I went on tour and I

55:41

was hosting my own tour across America

55:43

gold over America, which is absolutely amazing

55:45

the fans the kids beautiful We

55:47

put together an amazing production But

55:51

like even before some of those shows I had therapy

55:53

say my I can't recall what time our

55:55

shows started But say it started at 7. I Would

55:59

be on tour therapy from

56:02

like 4 30 to 6 and

56:05

then I would give myself an hour to get ready and

56:08

some days Jordan would come in my room because I

56:10

had my own room I'd be bawling

56:12

my eyes out trying to put on

56:14

my makeup because I'm talking to my

56:16

therapist about the Olympic experience put

56:19

on my face like crazy

56:21

it's like yeah it

56:26

was fun and and I will cherish every

56:28

stop and every show that we got to

56:30

put on totally but it was just like

56:32

behind the scenes just nobody knew well no

56:34

and that's what I appreciate you sharing that

56:37

because it doesn't take away from you an

56:39

amazing experience with those people but it's like

56:41

again shows the level of strength you have

56:43

of like you know Simone Biles

56:46

the public person and what she needs

56:48

you to show up but like we're

56:50

you and I don't want you to share

56:52

what you're comfortable because therapy is sacred but

56:54

like in those sessions are you

56:57

going beat by beat or are

56:59

you just talking about the overall

57:01

feeling and experience for me

57:04

since it again it was a

57:06

new therapist okay yeah good or

57:08

bad timing it was a

57:10

new therapist and every time I'm with the new

57:12

therapist it feels a little bit uncomfortable so I

57:14

like to start by saying like hey

57:17

I'm like an onion let's peel the layers like

57:19

I'm an open book anywhere else but with trauma it has

57:21

to be it has to be by layers because listen I

57:24

still have to put on face I still have to go

57:26

do these shows I don't you know so

57:29

it was kind of layers by layers but

57:31

like the compartmentalizing that we do as an

57:33

athlete and just as a human

57:36

I know a lot of us do it was

57:38

insane and I don't know how I got through

57:40

it but honestly I think the tour helped me

57:43

get out there and realize there's

57:45

more to life than gymnastics

57:48

and I honestly

57:50

thought since I

57:53

didn't compete at the Olympics in

57:55

the way that I was supposed to and

57:57

that we didn't win gold I

58:00

thought nobody was going to show up to my tour stops. And

58:03

night after night, it kind of

58:05

filled my cup up because all

58:07

of these girls and the fans came out.

58:10

And I remember after a show, sometimes we get

58:12

to see our family, but since COVID, it wasn't

58:14

too much family. But my

58:16

family and some of the producers were

58:18

at a show and we were

58:20

in the back. We were eating dinner after the show. And

58:23

I broke down crying. And I was like,

58:25

I cannot believe people are still showing up.

58:28

Why are they showing up? We didn't win. And

58:31

that's when I realized like,

58:33

holy crap. It's

58:36

not about that. Yeah. But I always thought

58:38

it was because that was ingrained in my head and that's what

58:40

everybody told me. That's heavy.

58:42

Yeah, it was crazy. I've learned so

58:44

much about myself in

58:46

such different Olympic experiences that

58:50

now having another Olympic year and a

58:52

cycle, like it's traumatizing in a way

58:54

to walk into. But

58:57

I feel like at this point, nothing

58:59

can break me. It's like, I've just

59:01

been through so much, so much trauma,

59:03

so much healing. I'm actually excited to

59:06

see what happens after this. I was

59:08

gonna say like in

59:10

a strange way, because I was thinking about, I'm

59:13

actually like, I feel like I

59:15

can visualize oddly like that scene

59:17

of you opening that suitcase and

59:20

just like sitting there with it

59:23

in front of you. And

59:25

the emotions and everything you're feeling from

59:27

what you just tried to

59:30

run away from kind of is sitting

59:32

there going now to this new phase.

59:34

It's a little traumatizing, you're right, to be

59:36

like, am I gonna do that

59:38

again? Like I gotta do- I'm gonna put myself through

59:40

this. Right. Yeah. When

59:43

you were home, when was the first

59:45

time you tried the vault again? Like

59:47

did you go immediately into the gym? What was

59:49

the situation? That's what I wanted

59:52

to do, but since we had tour, there was

59:54

no way for me to really get into a

59:56

gym and train like that, but I was so

59:58

traumatized. So after tour, I kinda- put

1:00:01

it under the rug that's for another time. I would

1:00:03

go into the gym and train like play around I

1:00:05

wouldn't say train. I would go into the gym go

1:00:07

see the girls and I would

1:00:10

just go jump on the trampoline and do

1:00:12

backflips back tugs like people call backflips

1:00:14

that's what I'm saying back. But I

1:00:16

would go to back tugs and even

1:00:19

that felt kind of weird because I'm like well

1:00:21

but I hadn't done that in a year because

1:00:23

I took off a year or more

1:00:26

and every time I went to the gym it

1:00:28

was kind of traumatizing and so every time

1:00:30

I'd flip I just like flashbacks to Tokyo oh

1:00:32

I'm gonna get lost I'm gonna get lost and

1:00:37

Laurent would always come over and he's like okay go

1:00:39

into the pit let's do a full and I'm like

1:00:45

I'm here to see the girls I just wanted to jump

1:00:47

on the tramp. I feel like I'm just like here to

1:00:49

jump on the trampoline. Yeah calm down. He would make me

1:00:51

twist and go back to the basics and I wasn't

1:00:53

even training I literally would just come visit and

1:00:56

he didn't want me to have that

1:00:59

feeling because and before that

1:01:01

I would watch math on TV and the girls

1:01:03

would be twisting and I'd be like cringing and I'd be like

1:01:05

oh my god oh my god I'm gonna throw up I can't

1:01:08

because I can't picture myself doing it because

1:01:10

I took so much off. What was

1:01:12

the lowest point

1:01:14

of the entire

1:01:17

Tokyo aftermath and experience? I

1:01:20

would say it wasn't even in Tokyo

1:01:23

unfortunately I think it's whenever I decided to

1:01:25

come back and train in

1:01:28

getting over those demons because

1:01:30

there were so many days I would come back in the gym and

1:01:33

I was like one step

1:01:35

forward five steps back one step forward five steps

1:01:37

back because as soon as I got lost one

1:01:40

time get lost pack my bags I'm out

1:01:42

of there why not put myself through this hell no

1:01:44

so I would literally like I

1:01:47

left so many times it was frustrating for

1:01:49

both me and Laurent because he didn't

1:01:54

fully understand the twisties

1:01:57

and for a lot of the time as gymnasts we know

1:01:59

what happens but it's very unspoken of and whenever

1:02:01

it happens you pretend it doesn't happen. Oh,

1:02:05

why is that? It's not

1:02:07

a good feeling. It's dangerous. It's

1:02:10

like horrible. It's scary. But you

1:02:12

don't want to speak up because then you're like, I don't want to

1:02:14

be out. Yeah. And then the other girls

1:02:16

will look at you and they feel like once you

1:02:18

get lost, it's going to happen to them. Got it.

1:02:20

So it feels contagious. Interesting. So

1:02:22

whenever they were looking at me and doing it,

1:02:25

it just like, it's so weird. And

1:02:27

so we yell. We had to go back

1:02:30

to the basics. And honestly,

1:02:32

like the whole

1:02:34

year, whenever Laurent last year, he told me I

1:02:36

was competing. All right. How

1:02:40

can I compete? I'm not over the twisties yet.

1:02:42

Because every time I went to bars or beam

1:02:44

or floor, I was praying that I

1:02:46

did the amount of twists I was supposed to. Like

1:02:49

I was so traumatized for this experience that I'm

1:02:51

just now feeling better. And even walking into the

1:02:53

gym, some days I feel like I'm going to

1:02:55

get lost because

1:02:58

I know what happened. But like, I'm like, that's

1:03:01

the reason. So yeah,

1:03:04

even I'm just not feeling

1:03:06

comfortable without. Yeah. So

1:03:08

it's crazy because like I went through world

1:03:10

championships. Everybody's like, she's back. And like, if

1:03:12

we would have one more day of world

1:03:14

championships, I think just mentally

1:03:17

from convincing

1:03:19

myself that I can do it so many times. And

1:03:22

you're fine. Twisting, twisting. I think I would have just

1:03:25

broke down and been like, I just can't like mentally,

1:03:27

I couldn't do it anymore. Not physically. I think physically, I

1:03:30

would have been able to do it. But if there were

1:03:32

one more day of world, I wouldn't have done it. Because

1:03:34

it's, I think what people I hope understand

1:03:36

is like, there's this mental taxing

1:03:39

aspect of like, when you fail at something,

1:03:42

you can't unsee it. Exactly. You can't unfeel

1:03:44

it. So you're trying to remove yourself and

1:03:46

you're trying to push it as far away

1:03:48

as possible. But your brain has experienced it

1:03:50

once. So you need to be so mentally

1:03:53

strong. The luck that's so far in the

1:03:55

corner, but it's hard. So

1:03:58

when did you approach? your

1:04:00

coaches and say, I want

1:04:02

to come back. Well, it was kind

1:04:04

of funny because the conversation didn't go how

1:04:06

I thought it was going to go. Okay.

1:04:08

And so I

1:04:10

think I requested a meeting or whatever with Cecile

1:04:13

and Laurent and we ended up at their house

1:04:15

and brought my husband, you know, my little blankie.

1:04:18

And I was like, okay, I

1:04:21

want to go back to the Olympics. I want to do this. And

1:04:24

they're sitting across the table and they look at me and they're

1:04:26

like, no. And

1:04:29

I was like, I

1:04:31

just want to go back to the Olympics. Do

1:04:34

it. Right? Like scream for me. Yes. And

1:04:37

they were like, no. And

1:04:40

I was like, I'm

1:04:44

like, what is going

1:04:46

on? And they were like, no,

1:04:50

you've set expectations for yourself for

1:04:53

so long. Let's just go back in the

1:04:55

gym, get in shape and

1:04:58

see what happens. And I was like, so we're

1:05:00

not going to the Olympics. We're

1:05:02

not training for the Olympics. They're like, we ain't

1:05:04

going to Paris. Yeah. That was really weird to

1:05:06

me because I thought they were going to

1:05:10

be on board. Like, yes, we have the process

1:05:12

laid out. And they just said no. And I

1:05:14

was like, hmm,

1:05:18

do I get new coaches? And I was like, oh, you're right.

1:05:21

And he was like, let's

1:05:25

not just think about the Olympics right now. Let's

1:05:28

think about maybe getting your skills back,

1:05:30

twisting comfortably again, doing this. And I

1:05:32

was like, oh, those things. Oh,

1:05:35

I would be fine. Yeah.

1:05:37

But then can we go to the Olympics?

1:05:39

Yes. And that's kind of how we started

1:05:41

it. And then I didn't

1:05:43

think I was competing at classics last year. And he

1:05:46

was like, yeah, you're competing. Here's your Leo's.

1:05:48

Here's this. Here's that. I was like, what?

1:05:55

So I can officially ask and you

1:05:57

can confirm like the goal is to go

1:05:59

to Paris. If all

1:06:01

goes well, I'm training. Yeah.

1:06:04

The goal is to go to

1:06:06

Paris. Yeah. So if you're going

1:06:09

to Paris, how are you approaching the

1:06:11

games differently compared to previous

1:06:13

years? I think just

1:06:15

working on my mind and my body more

1:06:18

than I have or continuing

1:06:20

to work on my body and my mind, just

1:06:22

like I have the past year and a half

1:06:24

and it's worked and sort of just stay on

1:06:26

top of that. It's exhausting, but like I have

1:06:28

to do it. It's working. I

1:06:31

didn't think therapy was going to work and it's working. So

1:06:33

therapy is the most incredible thing that I

1:06:35

have always said to people like you do

1:06:37

though need to get into it when you're

1:06:39

ready. Yes. It's like so many people

1:06:42

can tell you to go. And if your body and brain

1:06:44

is not ready to go, it's not even going to penetrate.

1:06:46

You're gonna be like, uh, I don't feel shit. Yeah. You're

1:06:48

not going to open up. You're not going to talk. You're

1:06:50

not going to be vulnerable. You're not going to let those

1:06:52

demons out. So it works out for the

1:06:54

better. I think I saw an interview of you where you

1:06:57

were like, which I kind of love. You were

1:06:59

like, people ask you your goals if you're, you know, for the

1:07:01

Olympics and you're like, I'm not sharing

1:07:03

my goals because I'm so sick of people

1:07:05

than like shoving them in my face. If

1:07:08

I don't exactly, and I think that's good

1:07:11

for you to set boundaries with press. Can

1:07:13

I ask though, like a personal, like not

1:07:16

having to do with gymnastics, a personal goal

1:07:18

mentally for you that you're going to carry

1:07:20

through? I would say to

1:07:22

keep up with my therapy, even on those

1:07:25

hard days, because I have

1:07:27

dodged a couple of tests. Oh yeah. You're

1:07:29

like, sorry, I'm like a little busy. That's so relatable. You're

1:07:32

like, and she knows like my days off, so I

1:07:34

do it the same day every time. And she's like,

1:07:36

Simone, Simone, are you there? And I was like, no,

1:07:39

sorry, I'm not here. That's the worst when your therapist

1:07:41

comes out. It's like, why, uh, I

1:07:43

know you're free. And you're like, no, not.

1:07:46

And they're like, and those are the ones that they

1:07:48

always get mad at you because they're like, those are the

1:07:50

sessions you need the most. That just

1:07:52

shows me, but you know, my phone's on. Do

1:07:55

not disturb. You're like,

1:07:57

I can't hear you. But

1:08:01

I feel so guilty and so ashamed.

1:08:03

I do too when I ghost my

1:08:05

therapist. Is there anything more toxic than ghosting

1:08:07

your therapist? This

1:08:10

is like the most toxic. Because it's

1:08:12

the healthiest relationship here. But like so

1:08:14

toxic. So bad. Sometimes you just, you

1:08:16

can't. We need a break. Sometimes

1:08:19

I don't want to talk to my feelings too

1:08:21

much. And sometimes it's like exhausting. I just feel

1:08:24

like a record on repeat. And again,

1:08:26

it goes back to like, feel like I should be healed

1:08:28

by now. Now you're shutting this

1:08:30

down in my throat. I hope you,

1:08:33

and I know this to anyone going

1:08:35

through mental health situations or

1:08:38

survivors, whatever it is, like it

1:08:41

is not on you to

1:08:43

speed up the process of

1:08:45

recovery from trauma. That was

1:08:48

not your fault. And so it's hard to

1:08:50

again, as athletes, you're trained to get over

1:08:53

things so quickly. But this is one thing

1:08:55

you have to like rewire your brain. It's

1:08:58

okay to feel this

1:09:01

and don't shove it away. Call your

1:09:03

therapist. Talk it through. No, 100%. And

1:09:06

I agree. And I think I've learned that

1:09:08

with my therapy over the years. So

1:09:11

I am very grateful that I'm in

1:09:13

therapy and thankful for the resources we

1:09:15

have. Because before this, like no athlete

1:09:17

was very outspoken about doing therapy or

1:09:19

this, that, the other, or even just

1:09:21

getting help. So we are in a

1:09:23

very fortunate situation that we're able to

1:09:26

do that. And we're

1:09:28

allowed to be vulnerable with our fans and with

1:09:30

our community. So I guess I just want to

1:09:32

say thank you to them too, because without them,

1:09:34

we wouldn't be able to do what we do.

1:09:36

So. Okay, this is still called

1:09:38

her daddy. So

1:09:41

I want to talk about your

1:09:43

husband. You're married to an NFL

1:09:45

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purchase. NFL

1:12:00

player Jonathan Owens. You met on Raya. Which

1:12:02

first I just want to say like, God

1:12:04

bless you, because I had no luck on

1:12:06

Raya. Okay girl, Raya was just

1:12:08

doing nothing for me, but like DJ's in

1:12:11

Australia. So good for you. You didn't

1:12:13

have, I had no luck. I could've put

1:12:15

your set, I could've changed your setting. Thank you, okay well.

1:12:18

You're setting the mirror up! What was

1:12:20

that? You have to be quick. I

1:12:24

need 200 miles. Listen, I

1:12:26

had enough of my days of

1:12:28

athletes, okay? I had to move on. What

1:12:31

made his profile stand out? I

1:12:34

think, first of all,

1:12:36

boys are so different from girls because

1:12:38

like, we're picking the cutest backgrounds, the

1:12:40

most aesthetically looking pictures, like, and I

1:12:42

wanted him to see, I didn't want

1:12:44

to really show that I was a

1:12:46

gymnast, so I didn't want to put

1:12:48

like a gymnastics, gymnasticy picture in there,

1:12:50

unless he had to click on my

1:12:52

Instagram and then see I was a

1:12:54

gymnast. So I didn't want them, that

1:12:57

to be the first impression. So

1:13:00

I was like, okay, face, not that much

1:13:02

makeup, this, that, the other, but what stood

1:13:05

out on his profile was just like,

1:13:08

he seemed so charismatic. He had these little

1:13:10

dimples, you know, the light eyes, and I

1:13:12

was like, oh he's so cute, and I

1:13:14

think he had his bulldog on there. Look,

1:13:17

he has a dog, so cute. I mean,

1:13:19

note to men listening, even if you

1:13:21

don't own a dog, take a picture

1:13:24

with the dog and put it on your profile because it

1:13:26

won't work. To me, if he had a

1:13:28

dog, that meant he was responsible. I

1:13:30

love that you think that is the first thing, I

1:13:33

mean, mom, like, oh, he's so cute. Is that him

1:13:35

laughing back there? Someone's laughing. He probably is, but listen,

1:13:37

then I went to his profile, and I didn't know

1:13:39

it was his nephew, and I was like, he

1:13:41

had a kid! Oh no, you

1:13:44

thought he had a kid? I thought he had a

1:13:46

kid, but then, you know, my soccer skills are soccer

1:13:48

skills. 30 seconds, you

1:13:50

figure it out. Figure it out. You figure it out, everyone,

1:13:52

yeah, yeah, yeah, of course. So it

1:13:54

was okay, when did you start to realize he

1:13:56

was the one? You! I

1:13:59

know, I know. So actually, and this

1:14:01

is so cliche because everybody says

1:14:03

this, but like the first time I

1:14:05

met him, I came home from

1:14:08

like our little date and stuff and my friends were at

1:14:10

my house and I was like, I'm gonna

1:14:12

marry him. Like who says I don't know

1:14:14

why I said that. I don't know what it is, but

1:14:16

I just felt something it would just like, like the energy

1:14:18

or the energy how

1:14:20

well we got along and like it was

1:14:22

a COVID relationship. It was like March

1:14:26

of 2020. I went

1:14:28

over, I had to go to his apartment to meet him.

1:14:30

It wasn't in a public setting and we knew it didn't

1:14:32

want to be public because we're both like

1:14:34

public, they can just take pictures, whatever. But

1:14:39

to go to his apartment, I was like, right, like

1:14:42

her first date, but we, we had no

1:14:44

other choice. Everything was really shutting

1:14:46

down in our city. Like that week, everything was

1:14:48

starting to shut down. And so for me,

1:14:50

I was like, let's just do a play date

1:14:52

with the bulldogs. And he was like, cause

1:14:54

I have bulldogs too. And he was like, well,

1:14:57

no, because it will be distracted by

1:14:59

the dogs. And for me, I kind

1:15:01

of sometimes like distractions that's a waste

1:15:03

from me. So that like, if it's

1:15:05

awkward, I'm like, oh, I'm an awkwarder. The

1:15:07

dog is sitting on the floor. Literally

1:15:10

so, um, he was like, no, not

1:15:12

for the first date, then we'll introduce them. Like, and

1:15:14

I was like, Oh, okay. But then

1:15:16

I walked in and his dog was so excited. He peed

1:15:18

all over the floor. And I was like,

1:15:20

I was like, maybe girls

1:15:23

aren't here very often. Great

1:15:26

sign. I

1:15:28

love you. On

1:15:31

text clues. So you're genius. You're like,

1:15:34

they've never seen a woman or even

1:15:36

the delusion. You're like, they've never seen a

1:15:38

woman. The delusion. Yeah. Um,

1:15:40

what is married life like to me?

1:15:42

And God, we were together

1:15:44

the whole entire time. And then as soon as we

1:15:47

get married, green Bay's like, Hey, we want to sign

1:15:49

him. So we went from our wedding, dropped our bags,

1:15:51

flew off the next morning, signed a green Bay. And

1:15:53

they were like few Monday, Jonathan. So as soon as

1:15:55

we got married, it was long distance. So it was

1:15:57

very different. Now he's back home.

1:15:59

Now we're. back into the groove

1:16:01

of things. Because we're both

1:16:03

on our schedules, we're both athletes, and

1:16:06

I think that's what is so

1:16:08

nice about our relationship is like we get to focus

1:16:10

on our sports respectively, and then we get to focus

1:16:12

on each other. But it's

1:16:14

no different. We're still dating, you know,

1:16:16

we're about to be four years in.

1:16:18

So yeah, married life

1:16:20

is no different. Okay, Jonathan,

1:16:23

if you're listening, I don't

1:16:25

even know if he's at this house yet. I think

1:16:27

he is. Um, we have to talk about the viral

1:16:29

moment. Like we have to do it. I know you're

1:16:31

going to ask. I have to. I

1:16:33

have to. Jonathan's viral interview where he

1:16:35

said he had no idea who you

1:16:37

were and the internet went insane. What

1:16:40

was your reaction when

1:16:42

you heard the interview and everything? I was in the

1:16:44

room. I was sitting

1:16:46

on the chair. You just couldn't see me on

1:16:48

the videos. I was there for

1:16:50

the whole entire video. And you were

1:16:53

feeling great. That's great. I was

1:16:55

like, why am I man? Just killed that. And

1:16:59

I'm so excited and like, they even panned over to

1:17:01

me with that viral moment. And I just like roll

1:17:03

my eyes and laugh because like, but

1:17:05

the funny thing is, is whenever I

1:17:07

met Jonathan, we were texting that week.

1:17:09

And I, at that

1:17:11

point, I'm like, okay, I don't have time to waste. So

1:17:13

if we're going to meet Chris, if it goes over a week,

1:17:16

you're not meeting like, forget this, you know, and

1:17:18

so we met that week, but whenever I would text

1:17:20

him anything, I text

1:17:22

him, he would say, I

1:17:24

can do that. I can do that. So

1:17:27

he could do everything. He was a

1:17:29

comedian. He was a dog trainer. He

1:17:31

was the best cook out there. He

1:17:33

was the fastest runner. She could do

1:17:35

everything. And that cracked me up about

1:17:37

him. So I couldn't wait to meet

1:17:39

him to be like, you're not funny.

1:17:41

You're not a good cook. You're not

1:17:43

shit. So I just thought that was funny

1:17:45

because, and I thought that was cute that

1:17:47

he thought he was good at everything because

1:17:49

I'm like, I'm good at

1:17:51

gymnastics. And he's like, I'm good at everything.

1:17:54

And so, um, whenever we did that, he did

1:17:56

that interview, I thought Everything

1:17:58

was okay. I'm dying

1:18:00

and then I going to twitter

1:18:03

and everybody's like divorces. man, he's

1:18:05

mean and I'm like she's the

1:18:07

sweetest. He like. Praises.

1:18:09

The ground that I walk on like. Truly.

1:18:11

Have never met a man like him. He's so

1:18:14

opened my door the So and I'm not saying

1:18:16

that to be like he saw opened my doors

1:18:18

because I've to be expected of men are like

1:18:20

he truly goes out of his way to do

1:18:22

anything for me. Today I was like. Be.

1:18:25

Than that, the gym and I forgot my camera.

1:18:27

Can you bring it in? I meant to bring

1:18:29

it to. That's how she products isn't. The

1:18:33

case is so sweet uses doing things like

1:18:35

you. you feel loved and you have worded

1:18:37

and I didn't think anything of that interview

1:18:39

and he never said I wasn't a cat

1:18:42

she said he was a catch. Because.

1:18:44

He is. I've never met a man like him. A lot of people about

1:18:46

me and him are like. Oh. My gosh, like

1:18:48

I want a man like that. like Jonathan.

1:18:50

Like a lot of the girls at the

1:18:52

gym, they love him. He's so nice to

1:18:55

them, he supports them. He's so sweet. One

1:18:57

of the girls at the gym she's like

1:18:59

my little sister and we had gone to.

1:19:01

i think we're at camp. And.

1:19:04

I always driver to camp the she drops

1:19:06

her car at my house and she person

1:19:08

in the driveway. She got her windows timid.

1:19:10

He was like you can be is pulling

1:19:12

out here and got her with the synod

1:19:14

but she's suing thinking of the little thing.

1:19:16

Yeah I think what's crazy is first voters

1:19:18

as we know the inner not login. You

1:19:20

know what's gonna go viral now. Taken him,

1:19:22

run and not exactly what they did. Why

1:19:24

do you think people got so upset. Because.

1:19:29

He was a huge. First. Of all that

1:19:31

interview had nothing to do with me, it was all for him. So

1:19:33

I think they were mad that. He. Didn't include

1:19:35

me in the but he has had his

1:19:37

moments to and I let him have it.

1:19:39

Whenever I go to football games are sometimes

1:19:41

I get field hockey but I may not.

1:19:44

Need any. Man

1:19:47

in a uniform guinea locus. Good luck

1:19:49

out there is like. This.

1:19:51

Is his moment that his interview? What?

1:19:54

Was I supposed to interrupt that interview

1:19:56

and be like. Hey. Did it

1:19:58

is a great with your like I actually the like

1:20:00

that you're like a sometimes I'm like I want to

1:20:02

have my wag moment on the field where I'm just

1:20:04

like I'm not Simone Biles the Ip and undies the

1:20:06

my bowels like and that's my brother, the allies and

1:20:08

I love to support him. So I think that. They.

1:20:11

Were mad that whenever they said he

1:20:13

and by the way like he said

1:20:15

a big. Part like

1:20:17

said it so many times. I guess you're saying

1:20:19

so it was kind of I thought, you know

1:20:21

I always whatever like yeah, those conversations or a

1:20:24

drink and there are loads a killer whatever it

1:20:26

is. So I think. That was

1:20:28

a thing. If it was at girls

1:20:30

know me, it's just different. That was like

1:20:32

they're fireside chat, that they're outside hanging

1:20:34

with the boys. whatever. like. There

1:20:36

was no. There was nothing fall

1:20:39

down a when that was all going crazy and

1:20:41

trending. what are you were saying to each other

1:20:43

I thought I was hilarious what people were saying

1:20:45

divorce him, divorce and all this crazy stuff and

1:20:47

like he doesn't even like to say divorce is

1:20:49

probably dying right now that I said have like

1:20:52

six times and ruff of or seattle Literally Divorce

1:20:54

has like that. Whatever. So.

1:20:56

I thought it was hilarious at first. And

1:20:59

then they hurt me, feel the heat and

1:21:01

then like one I got broke, I broke

1:21:03

down and I'm like why are they talking

1:21:05

about my husband like this like you don't

1:21:07

know him, you don't know who he is

1:21:09

and it's anybody's met him, they know he's

1:21:11

the sweetest guy, will do anything for anybody

1:21:13

you have received and in not the correct

1:21:15

way. Yes in. so that really hurt that

1:21:17

they were talking about my husband like that

1:21:19

because for me is like. Talk. About

1:21:21

me all you want? But. Don't come

1:21:23

from a family. Never. Like.

1:21:26

Because I've been in the limelight long enough where I

1:21:28

can brush things off. How my low power about A:

1:21:30

you're not going to know I've heard about A By

1:21:33

I'd be current about themselves. You know why? I'm also.

1:21:35

Only cry about it because I can't

1:21:37

clapped back. Just know that why not?

1:21:40

Likely. You are hurt their feelings. Your

1:21:43

club in his class, you

1:21:46

know? What?

1:21:49

Yes Because whenever I was younger I sat

1:21:51

put her finger few a literary agent like

1:21:53

magnetic. now. Good enough because I would go

1:21:55

off on people because who are you to

1:21:58

say in so every now and then. I

1:22:00

say something. effects flicking. clever but

1:22:02

I can really go there. You

1:22:04

just you're just like it's better

1:22:06

to. Not exactly a yam of

1:22:08

heat. Jonathan has never in the

1:22:10

draft. Draft you drop

1:22:12

them in. you never said no because if

1:22:14

I am the upper limit on how I

1:22:17

feel better I also have an accident or

1:22:19

two reps. Uma us is really bad yeah

1:22:21

guy feel to their like quoted employed. Or

1:22:23

leaf I'm okay. Jonathan has never gotten

1:22:25

to go to the Olympics before with

1:22:27

yeah, what are you most excited about

1:22:30

for him to experience. Will. Hopefully he

1:22:32

gets to go because that's that their

1:22:34

training camp and he's working on a

1:22:36

new contract. So hopefully he'll work and

1:22:38

his new contract at least two days.

1:22:41

Yup, like even if is like a

1:22:43

personal day on. but some teams are

1:22:45

really really noise about like. If

1:22:48

you work with their family relations. Some.

1:22:50

Are more family oriented than others so fingers

1:22:52

crossed. Will get to see him the sand

1:22:54

since. I'm excited for

1:22:56

him to see Die on. One.

1:22:59

I'm excited to see. Him.

1:23:01

To see the Olympics because. Football's.

1:23:03

Not a movie any always says it's like

1:23:06

the harder for to see universal and only

1:23:08

for why than in the. Olympics

1:23:10

is not. every country does is

1:23:12

period by on know just to

1:23:15

see that spirit and. I'm.

1:23:17

At Paris I think they'll do a

1:23:19

beautiful job. And. She doesn't travel

1:23:21

overseas To two minds: the first time

1:23:24

he went overseas or said. When.

1:23:27

On the Texans in there with him one day. and like

1:23:29

hitting the past where he never had a passport for oh

1:23:31

surely come with me being yeah, say the word. Or

1:23:34

the literally okay, Regardless,

1:23:37

Of what happens in Paris. Yeah. What

1:23:39

do you hope? Your legacy is. To. Be

1:23:42

an advocate for. Anything.

1:23:45

That I'd been outspoken about.

1:23:47

Mental. Health. Foster. Care

1:23:49

A D H D

1:23:51

on. Whatever that is,

1:23:54

But. Also jess. someone

1:23:57

i gave her all never gave

1:23:59

up but also had fun and enjoyed

1:24:01

her career because I think a lot of times

1:24:03

athletes might look back at their career and be

1:24:05

like, I wish I had more fun or

1:24:07

I wish I did this differently. But I'm kind of at

1:24:09

that age where I've been,

1:24:12

I don't really have any more to regret because

1:24:15

I'm a little bit older, I'm more mature. Everything

1:24:18

I've done has kind of

1:24:20

been on like my time. So

1:24:23

I don't have regrets. I

1:24:25

think that is so beautiful. And

1:24:27

I think first I would

1:24:29

just like to thank you because hearing

1:24:31

so much of what you're talking about, like you

1:24:34

are so perceived on the internet and there's

1:24:36

so much pressure and there's, it's difficult to

1:24:39

open up and sit and be honest and

1:24:41

vulnerable and I appreciate you trusting me with

1:24:43

your story and this experience because I am

1:24:46

such a huge fan of yours. And I think you

1:24:48

are, you are so much more

1:24:50

than gymnastics, but you are kick ass about

1:24:52

us as a gymnast, obviously the greatest of

1:24:54

all time. So I just cannot wait to

1:24:57

see what's next for you. And I don't

1:24:59

just mean obviously the Olympics, like just your

1:25:01

life and your career and Simone Biles and

1:25:03

I love you. Congrats. Thank

1:25:05

you. Congrats. Oh my God, we did

1:25:07

it. Yay. Wow. Okay.

1:25:26

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