"I think the dogs were sick of me"- When Simone Biles reflected on challenges of staying alone during early stages of COVID-19 lockdown

Simone Biles once reflected on the hardest part of staying alone during the initial stages of the COVID-19 pandemic. Due to the difficult circumstances of the disease, her father Ronald, and mother Nellie Biles, restricted her from visiting their home frequently as a part of safety measures.

Notably, Biles had moved out of her parent's home after the 2016 Rio Olympics and had been living on her own with her dogs. As a result, Biles spent the initial phase of the lockdown alone at her home with her dogs - Lilo and Rambo, who she adopted in 2018 and 2020.

In an interview with Olympics.com in April 2021, Simone Biles spoke about the challenges she faced during the early days of the lockdown, saying:

“In the beginning of quarantine, it was really, really hard because me and my family were really tight-knit, and my parents wouldn't let me over to their house for months. And so it was just kind of like the dogs and I chillin at home and I would take them on so many walks.”

She added that she felt the dogs were tired of her constant attention as she frequently took them for walks because of her boredom, adding:

“I think they [the dogs] were so sick of me because I was just so bored. And I think that was the hardest part of being alone during that time.”

However, later things got better for her as the 2020 Tokyo Olympics got postponed. During the three-month break which she took for her well-being after the Summer Games postponement, she spent quality time with her family and friends and regularly attended her then-boyfriend and now husband Jonathan Owens' NFL games’ fixtures.

Simone Biles opens up on her dogs’ important role in her mental health journey

Simone Biles attends the Los Angeles premiere of Netflix's "Simone Biles Rising: Part 2" (Photo by Robin L Marshall/Getty Images)

On The Kelly Clarkson Show, Simone Biles opened up about how her dogs play a key role in her mental health journey. During her appearance in the show in December 2024 ahead of Christmas, she discussed how her dogs comfort her, adding:

“For me, I mean, I feel like at the end of the day, besides coming home to my husband, my dogs, they greet me like they've never seen me before. And it's so much, it's so much comfort. And especially after a long day, they like, can kind of sense how you're feeling. Each of my dogs have very different personalities.” [1:53 onwards]

“But like in the very beginning when I got Lilo, she was my emotional support animal and she was registered and everything. She's helped me more than she knows. And she's so cute…They're like my little world,” the seven-time Olympic gold medalist mentioned.

Besides Lilo and Rambo, Simone Biles and her husband, Jonathan Owens, a Chicago Bears safety, are also parents to Zeus, an English bulldog.