Simone Biles’ husband, Jonathan Owens, sent shockwaves among her fans when he joked that he was the “catch” in their relationship. However, according to his new Instagram post, the football safety, 28, is “unbothered” by the backlash he is receiving. He shared a photo of him and Simone, 26, from their wedding on December 21, and added in his caption, “Just know we locked in over here.”
“I always say that the men are the catch,” Jonathan said while on a new episode of “The Pivot” podcast alongside Simone. He also admitted that, at the beginning of their romance, he “was fighting” against his fear of being able “to commit” at the time. “But you know, it happens when you least expect it. When we hung out, we just hit it off instantly. Laughed the whole night,” Jonathan explained.
After Jonathan’s comments went viral on social media, Instagram commenters reacted to the podcast’s post of his interview. Many claimed that he was deriding Simone.
“This is really odd that you would degrade your wife like this on a public platform,” one user commented, adding, “You will forever be known as Simone Biles’ husband. You’re not the catch.”
Important Life Lesson:
Get you a man that talks about you the way Travis Kelce speaks about Taylor Swift, not how Jonathan Owens spoke about Simone Biles. She deserves better. pic.twitter.com/ltgc0LAzLp— Da🦦Otterside (@DaOtterside) December 22, 2023
Others continued to slam Jonathan, with one writing, “You are not the catch, bro!!! Wouldn’t know who you are if it wasn’t for Simone.” A separate person then called Jonathan’s comments “cringe.”
Earlier in his interview, the Green Bay Packers player revealed that he didn’t know who Simone was when they started dating in 2020. After the two connected on the dating app Raya, Jonathan realized that the gymnast had a huge following on social media.
“I’m like, ‘Lemme see who this is.’ I never really paid attention to gymnastics, so it piqued my curiosity,” he explained. After the pair went out on a date together, Jonathan realized how recognizable the Olympian was. “It was all these moms and they’re there with their kids, and we walked past, and everybody stopped and just [stared]. Kids were just shaking, like, ‘Oh, my God,’” he added.
Jonathan noted that the reason for being unaware of Simone’s celebrity status was because he was busy in college and didn’t have a chance to watch the 2016 Rio Olympics.
“When she won the Olympics, I was in college, and we didn’t have NBC, we didn’t have Olympics channels, and we were in [training] camp [in] late July, early August,” the athlete pointed out. “So, I’m not paying attention. I never would’ve had a moment where I would’ve watched [her compete],”
Once they started going out in 2020, Simone and Jonathan had to navigate the limitations surrounding the COVID-19 pandemic, he pointed out during his interview.
“We couldn’t do much, because COVID happened, and everything was shut down,” Jonathan said. “So, she came down to Houston. She lived in the suburbs, so she had to drive about 45 minutes. Then the rest is history.”