"Man, this gotta be fake" - When Simone Biles' husband Jonathan Owens was left in shock after gymnast's first message

Simone Biles' husband, Chicago Bears safety Jonathan Owens, once revealed that he was in shock after the gymnast messaged him for the first time on Instagram. The couple began dating in 2020 and are going strong in the second year of their marriage.

Owens and Biles met via an online celebrity dating app, Raya, in early 2020. However, the football pro wasn't aware of who Biles was at the time, claiming that he didn't follow gymnastics.

After the couple matched on the dating app, Biles discovered Owens’ Instagram profile and gave him a follow and a few likes on his posts, as narrated by the couple themselves during an appearance on the Pivot podcast in December 2023.

However, when Owens saw the message, a “hey,” and checked out Biles’ followers, he was left in shock and thought it was fake.

“‘Man, this gotta be fake,’” Owens recalled thinking (via Today). “I didn’t know who she was at the time. But like, the first thing that I saw was that she just had a bunch of followers. So in my mind I’m like, ‘OK, she’s got to be good.’”

However, Owens realized Biles was the “real deal” when they stepped out in public together, and the gymnast was swarmed by moms and kids alike.

“It was all these moms and they're there with their kids and we walked past and everybody stopped and just —Kids were just shaking, like, ‘Oh, my God!’”

Biles's popularity has, at times, resulted in the football pro being referred to as Mr. Biles, even once during an NFL game. But the gymnast hopes she is someday referred to as “Jonathan Owens’ wife.”

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Jonathan Owens was “fighting” off relationship with Simone Biles at the start

Simone Biles and Jonathan Owens during Chicago Bears v Green Bay Packers - Source: Getty

Speaking during the above-mentioned podcast (via Today), Jonathan Owens further revealed that he was afraid of committing to Simone Biles. The then-Houston Texans safety was just in his third season in the NFL and feared that his focus might go off his career.

“I was fighting it,” he said, adding, “I was afraid to commit. I’m like, ‘Agh, man, this is my third year (as an NFL pro). It’s kind of early.’”

However, things changed quickly after they hung out.

"We hung out, man, it was like we hit it off instantly,” Owens said about hanging out with Simone Biles. “You know, we just laughed the whole night.”

The couple got engaged in 2022 before tying the knot the following year in a private courthouse ceremony in Texas. They threw a destination wedding the following month, in May 2023, in Cabo San Lucas, Mexico.