When Simone Biles said “I do,” back in April 2023, she knew it wouldn’t be easy. At the height of her career back then—with an impending comeback at the 2024 Paris Olympics after a cruel case of “twisties” in Tokyo—marital bliss for Biles, and her husband Jonathan Owens took a lot of patience and sacrifices.
As a 26-year-old gymnast juggling two marriages, her Olympic run seemed a bit more difficult. But that was until the Olympian had a hard-hitting realization one fine day. “People think if you’re a wife, you can’t be a professional athlete, you can’t be a gymnast, you can’t do whatever. And I came to the realization, like, yeah, I can still be a wife and be out there,” Biles told Olympics.com.
“[I’m] even being intentional outside of the gym, making time for me and my husband, making time for my family, making time for those vacations, which before I wouldn’t say necessarily I skipped because y’all know I have my vacation time. But I feel like before, it’s just like you put relationships and all of that on the back burner.
“I was, like, married to gymnastics, and now I feel like I’m attached to so many other things and gymnastics is just a part of my day because at the end of my practice, I’m like, ‘Well, I get to go home to a house, to my husband, to my dogs, to all this stuff,’ where before it was like, ‘Man, gym, gym, gym, gym’,” she further divulged. However, another hard-hitting reality was lurking in the shadows…
You see, the couple had an intimate courthouse wedding in Houston in April before a destination wedding in Cabo, Mexico, just a month later. But, by the time the newly wed couple started planning on their new life together, duty called. Meaning? A long-distance relationship for the foreseeable future, and a honeymoon plan short of being executed.
Shedding light on the unfavorable situation, Biles had stated on the Call Her Daddy podcast back in April last year, ”We were together the whole entire time, and then as soon as we get married, Green Bay [Packers were] like, ‘Hey, we wanna sign him. So we went from our wedding, dropped our bags, flew out the next morning, signed with Green Bay.” The football safety had signed a one-year, $1.01 million contract with the Green Bay Packers in May, 2023, before joining the Chicago Bears the next season with a two-year, $4.5 million deal.
Having said that, Biles further revealed about her heartbreak, saying, “They were like, ‘See you [on] Monday, Jonathan. So, as soon as we got married, it was long distance. So it was very different.” Talking about their demanding schedules, the gymnastics icon had heartbreakingly confessed back in August 2023 when a fan asked her about the highlight of her honeymoon during an Instagram Q&A session, “We haven’t taken a honeymoon yet.” But looks like the couple has finally overcome the hurdle…
With the NFL season and the Gold over America tour over, on February 15, Biles and Owens finally ticked that long-awaited trip off of their bucket list. The seven-time Olympic gold-medalist shared a mirror selfie on her Instagram Stories writing, “off to our honeymoon🖤” and “2 years later”, dressed in comfortable travel outfits, accompanied by stacks and stacks of luggage.
Well, now that we know that it would be a long flight, let’s look at the possibilities of where it might be. Three years ago, Biles had a Q&A series with her fans where she spilled the beans on her dream honeymoon destination. Biles opined back then, “Still in the process of solidifying wedding plans/details. So we haven’t gotten to honeymoon… I’ve always wanted to go to Bora Bora though!”
And this was not the only time that Biles had expressed her fondness for the destination. In a past discussion with the Olympics.com, Biles doubled down on her wish to travel to the French Polynesian island. What’s more? It takes somewhere between 15-20 hours to reach the destination from the US depending on where you’re boarding the plane from. Well, there we have it!
She initially went to New York City, where she spent time shopping and dining. Biles also posted a glimpse of her time taking romantic strolls on the NYC streets holding Owens’ hand. Next up, the couple went for a serene getaway to the postcard country of Switzerland. And if that was not enough, Owens recently posted pictures of him and his wife enjoying themselves on the beaches of Miami.
Now, all these outings were of short durations. And when the question is about a honeymoon, it surely has to be a grand one. After all, at one point during her marriage, Owens and Biles had stayed 1096 miles apart. While playing for the Green Bay Packers, Biles used to travel 19 hours from Texas to catch a glimpse of Owens residing in Wisconsin.
On the other hand, during Owens’ Bears run last year, his superstar wife even made the impossible happen by shelling out a cool $10,000 for Thanksgiving. As per Biles’ confession back then, “I’ll fly up in the morning and fly right back [in a private jet], just so we can still spend Thanksgiving together… Holidays are revolving around sports right now, especially in the football world with them sometimes playing…”
“We’ll just have a chef come and cook…I think some of his teammates will come through and grab a plate, especially if they don’t have family in the area. It is a little bit more difficult, but it is kind of nice that we can just relax,” she had further said. Looks like no amount of hardships can deter the couple from spending quality time together!