\nSimone Biles starved as child by addict mom, adopted by grandparents who \u2018calm\u2019 her in comps\n
On Tuesday July 30, after her historic win at the 2024 Paris Olympics, Simone Biles shared an Instagram story of Ronald Biles watching her compete.\n
\u201cMy dad & his binoculars is soooo freaking cute,\u201d Simone writes of her biological grandfather, who along with his wife adopted the athlete \u2013 now an eight-time Olympic medallist \u2013 after she was left in foster care when she was only three.\n
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Simone, the most decorated American gymnast, opened up about her childhood and how she and her siblings were starving in the care of her biological mother who was \u201cstruggling with drug and alcohol abuse.\u201d Keep reading to learn about this inspiring athlete!\n
Long before 26-year-old Simone Biles was flipping, launching and spinning, she was living in foster care with her siblings, Adria, Tevin and Ashley.\n
Simone\u2019s birth mother Shanon was dependent on alcohol and drugs, and unable to care for her four children.\n
\u201cIt was hard to give up my kids but I had to do what I had to, I wasn\u2019t able to care for them,\u201d Shanon tells the Daily Mail, adding the kid\u2019s father \u2013 also an addict \u2013 was absent.\n
Speaking with CNN, Simone candidly speaks of her experience as a child and the \u201chardships\u201d she experienced with her addict mom.\n
\u201cWhen my siblings and I entered foster care, it was because our biological mom was struggling with drug and alcohol abuse. I was three years old,\u201d she tells CNN.\n
Two decades later, she still has vivid memories of starving.\n
\u201cI just remember, like, us as kids being so hungry and then I just remember this cat that would get fed and not like\u2026us,\u201d she shares in the clip. \u201cAnd so we were taken and, thankfully, we actually got to stay in one foster home and we were all together\u2026it was some of the best times ever. We were just so excited.\u201d\n
Adding to that excitement were the frequent visits from her grandparents, Ronald and Nellie Biles, who adopted Simone (then six), and her little sister Adria, who is now 24.\n
\u201cI wanted to take care of Adria obviously because she was the baby,\u201d Simone said on her Facebook Watch series, Simone vs. Herself. \u201cI just felt like I needed to look out for her because if family doesn\u2019t look out for you, who\u2019s going to?\u201d\n
Their siblings Tevin and Ashley were adopted by Ronald\u2019s sister and raised in Cleveland, Ohio.\n
Life changing rain day\n
And then, a rained-out school trip completely changed the course of Simone\u2019s life.\n
\u201cI never, ever, thought about gymnastics as a sport to put Simone in, that never entered my mind,\u201d says Nellie of her adopted daughter on Simone vs Herself. \u201cI remember it was a field trip, but it rained so they did not go to this farm or wherever they were supposed to go and instead they went to Bannon\u2019s Gymnastix.\u201d\n
Confirming her mother\u2019s memory, Simone offers more information to her fans, saying the first time she was exposed to gymnastics was in \u201cdaycare on a school trip.\u201d\n
\u201cI don\u2019t ever remember watching it on TV or seeing pictures in a magazine,\u201d the athlete says, adding she learned by \u201cimitating\u201d other girls.\n
Ever since, Nellie and Ronald attended every meet, watching Simone slay the competition.\n
Explaining that she has a \u201cbad habit\u201d of trying to locate her biggest cheerleaders in the crowd, Simone said she would be \u201ckind of nervous\u201d to compete without her parents watching.\n
\u201cI don\u2019t feel set and comfortable until I find where they are in the crowd. I just get really antsy and once I see them, I feel that it calms me down to know that they\u2019re in the arena.\u201d\n
The only competition the Biles couple missed was the 2021 Tokyo Olympics, where fans were not allowed due to COVID-19 restrictions. Ultimately, Simone pulled out of the women\u2019s team final and \u201cfour subsequent individual finals to prioritize her health as she dealt with a case of what gymnasts call the \u2018twisties,\u2019 where the body and mind fall out of sync.\u201d\n
Dad and his binoculars\n
Cheering on Simone and Team USA in the 2024 Olympics in Paris, Ronald and Nellie were joined by Simone\u2019s husband Jonathan Owens, a football player who took time off training camp with the Chicago Bears to support his wife (married in 2023).\n
\u201cIt really doesn\u2019t matter where we are, which competition it is, she knows where we\u2019re sitting. She can hear me, I know that because I scream so loud,\u201d the proud Nellie shares in the Facebook clip.\n
And when Simone scanned the Bercy Arena in Paris for her parents, she saw Owens, wearing a colorful t-shirt with his wife\u2019s images, seated next to Nellie, wearing a huge smile, and her dad, who\u2019s face is hidden by binoculars that he used to watch his daughter.\n
\u201cMy dad and his binoculars is so freaking cute,\u201d she writes in an Instagram story that shows fans the adorable family picture.\n
Friends of the Children\n
In addition to claiming the title as the U.S gymnast who hold the most medals, Simone also supports Friends of the Children, an organization that offers long-term nurturing care to kids in foster care.\n
\u201cIt gives them love and support, because that\u2019s what these kids need, so to have that one constant means the world to them,\u201d the fierce advocate for the group tells CNN.\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
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