NEED TO KNOW
When you know, you know — just ask Simone Biles.
The Olympic gymnast, 28, pinpointed the exact moment she knew her now-husband Jonathan Owens was the one when telling PEOPLE exclusively about her first date with the NFL player and the feelings she felt upon their initial meeting five years ago.
And it wasn’t just a generic feeling felt by Biles, who was introduced to the Chicago Bears safety, 30, in March 2020. It was something more that she couldn’t quite describe.
“Gosh… It wouldn’t even be giddy. What is the right term? I could not stand when a girl says, ‘Oh, my god, I knew he was the one because…’ What is that feeling like? What does that even mean?” she frustratingly questioned with a laugh.
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In an effort to choose the most accurate word to express how she felt on their first date, the seven-time Olympic gold medalist couldn’t find one. However, she remembers the words she told her pals immediately after they met.
“I don’t know the term for it, but as soon as I met Jonathan, I remember coming home and telling my friends because they were at my house getting ready with me for that little date,” she shares. “I came back and I was like, ‘Oh, I think I’m going to marry him.’ ”
The feeling was new for Biles, who had only dated one person prior to tying the knot with Owens. The feeling made her question her instinct, but in hindsight, she recognizes that it was a sign she had met her forever love.
“Why did I say that? I don’t know. I don’t know why I said that,” she laughs. “It was just a random weird feeling that I’ve never felt before, and then it just happened. So I just think he was so kind and sweet, he made me laugh.”
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She adds, “Obviously a lot of different things went into it. But why did I say that? I don’t know.”
Prior to their official first date, Biles and Owens coincidentally crossed paths in January 2019 during a Texans game. The gymnast was invited to lead the team out of the tunnel, and ironically, the football star could be seen in the background of her photos from that day.
However, it wasn’t until March 2020 that the pair officially met on the dating app Raya, with Biles making the first move.
“He would say I slid into his DMs,” she told the Wall Street Journal. “I saw him and I was like, ‘Oh, he’s pretty cute,’ so I said hi … and then I saw that he was in the Houston area, so we started chatting a little bit, and then we went to hang out a week or two later.”
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The couple made their romance Instagram official in August 2020, and have showed glimpses of their relationship on social media through the years, with posts in support of each other at their respective sporting events and sweet, PDA-filled photos.
In February 2022, Owens proposed to Biles. The pair wed in April 2023, in an intimate courthouse wedding in Texas. They then had a second wedding in Mexico that May.
Today, Biles — who is taking a “break” from gymnastics following her history-making run at the 2024 Paris Olympics — is relishing in the fun of being a football WAG.
“It’s such a fun time because I’ve actually missed so many of his games throughout his career because I’ve been doing my own thing,” she tells PEOPLE, in reference to her gymnastics schedule. “So to be there in person and to be in a different atmosphere obviously is so much fun.”
She’s also a proud WAG, too.
“He’s broken so many barriers, he was undrafted, free agent and D2 school. So, that’s my main priority,” she says, adding, “Just showing up and supporting my husband.”
