Simone Biles is the world’s most decorated gymnast for a reason, she’s broken countless records and also completely changed the conversation about mental health in sports. Simone married NFL player Jonathan Owens; the fact that he’s Simone’s husband is all I really know about him, or knew about him.
Owens appeared on the Dec. 20 episode of The Pivot podcast, and he definitely had a lot to say. The first red flag was that Owens claimed he “didn’t know who she was” when they initially matched on the dating app Raya because he didn’t have access to NBC’s Olympics coverage while in college. Owens then said Simone had to drive 45 minutes to go see him on their first date.
When asked how he pulled Simone, Owens’ response was “It’s really how she pulled me man, that’s the question.” The audacity only continued from there, as one of the hosts asked if Owens considered himself “the catch” in their relationship, to which he quickly agreed. Owens then explained that he always says men are the catch in the relationship. Even when they’re, like, married to Simone Biles.
Despite the backlash Owens received, he made it extremely clear he didn’t care and posted on Instagram saying he’s “unbothered.” If millions of people were accusing me of saying negative things about my relationship, I’d use my social media posts to explain what I actually meant or apologize to my partner, but I guess he really is unbothered.Â
To put their relationship into perspective, Simone has 7.1 million followers on Instagram and Owens has just under 400,000 followers on Instagram, so I highly doubt Owens is the catch here. She’s also, like, one of the greatest athletes that ever lived.
The interview responses only got worse from there, and it reeked of a man being unable to handle his wife’s fame. We’ve seen it before with other relationships, like Taylor Swift and Joe Alwyn and it isn’t a good look. I really can’t imagine being so intimidated by my spouse’s fame that I would decide to label myself as the catch.Â
Relationships aren’t meant to be a competition, but I do think there should be some acknowledgement that Simone is way out of Owens’ league. They live completely different lifestyles: she’s literally known as the best gymnast in the world, and Owens just signed to the Green Bay Packers as a free agent in May.Â
It’s really important to acknowledge those lifestyle differences in a relationship rather than making success a competition. If those conversations are avoided then there’s potential for resentment to grow, which I think this interview is a prime example of.Â
I’m sure Owens has plenty of great achievements of his own, but it’s impossible to label yourself as the prize in this relationship over Simone, who has literally been labeled the greatest athlete of all time in any sport, and has also been an athlete of the year for Time.Â
I understand that it might feel hard to live in the shadow of someone who is the greatest athlete of all time, but your solution shouldn’t be to downgrade your wife in a YouTube interview, it’s time to walk away.Â
Women are constantly celebrating men’s accomplishments, like Simone’s constant support for Owens’ games. However, it’s unfair to expect women to continue to be supportive while trying to force them onto the sidelines or make it seem as though our achievements aren’t good enough. All women deserve to be celebrated, especially when they are literally raising the standard and breaking glass ceilings every day like Simone.