More than six months after calling himself “the catch” in his marriage with Simone Biles, Jonathan Owens addresses the remark’s backlash.
In Dec. 2023, the NFL player spoke about his marriage to Biles. “I always say that the men are the catch,” he said during an appearance on The Pivot podcast.
Jonathan Owens also admitted, at the time, he didn’t know who Simone Biles was when they first started dating. So literally, had been on the app for a couple of days, man, and it’s like she pops up and I’m like, ‘Let me see who this is’ “ he said. “I had never really paid attention to gymnastics, so it piqued my curiosity.”
Fast-forward to July 2024 and now Owens reflects on how he approached the remark’s backlash. “I have all my social media notifications off,” he told Us Weekly. “So I didn’t even know for a while. I was actually with my mom and Simone when it came out, all the comments and everything. I just let them read it.”
Jonathan Owens further explained that he tried to stay away from it. “Obviously if you feel like stuff is kind of getting out of hand, that’s when you reach in and say something.”
Owens also pointed out there is no winning against social media trolls. “I don’t mean to cuss, but like, damned if you do, damned if you don’t,” he said. “If you say something, they’re going to say something; if you don’t say something, they’re going to say something. So, just live your life. People are going to talk about you anyway, so you might as well do it the way you want to.”
Simone Biles Previously Defended Jonathan Owens’ Comments on ‘Call Her Daddy’ Podcast
While appearing on Alex Cooper’s Call Her Daddy podcast in April 2024, Simone Biles came to Jonathan Owens’ defense for the comments. She noted that she was actually in the room during his The Pivot interview.
“You just couldn’t see me on the videos,” she explained. “I was there for the whole entire video.”
Simone Biles then recalled “feeling great” in the moment and thought Jonathan Owens was doing awesome. “I was like, ‘My man just killed that,’” she joked.
However, it didn’t take long for people to voice their outrage about his remarks on social media. “So, whenever he did that interview, I thought everything was ok. And then I go on Twitter, and everybody’s like, divorce this man, he’s mean. I’m like, he’s the sweetest. He praises the ground that I walk on. Truly, I’ve never met a man like him.”
She went on to add, “He never said I wasn’t a catch. He said he was a catch because he is. I’ve never met a man like him. A lot of people that meet him are like, ‘Oh my gosh, I want a man like that.’”