Simone Biles and Jonathan Owens Won't Force Their Future Kids to Play Sports

“Whatever they want.”

Gold medalist Simone Biles of Team United States celebrates on the podium during the medal ceremony for the Artistic Gymnastics Women's Vault Final on day eight of the Olympic Games Paris 2024 at Bercy Arena on August 03, 2024 in Paris, France
(Image credit: Getty Images)

Even though Simone Biles is the most decorated American gymnast of all-time, she apparently has no intention of forcing any future children she may have to follow in her athletic footsteps.

In an exclusive interview with People for the publication's latest issue, Biles' husband, Chicago Bears safety Jonathan Owens, says the couple are not going to "force anything" on their future kids when it comes to sports.

"If that's what they want to do, I'm not going to try to force anything on them," Owens told the publication. "Obviously they're going to know what their parents did, so that'll be just something cool for them to look at and for us to be able to relive those stories and memories with them."

Owens went on to say that his wife and gymnastics GOAT is "big on taking pictures" and that the pair will "have stuff framed up" for their future children.

"But honestly, whatever they want to do, I'll just support them 100%," he added. "I don't want to force 'em and make it feel like, 'You have to do this because we did.' That doesn't generally work out for kids."

When asked if the pair plan on having kids, Owens gave a succinct, matter-of-fact response.

"In the future, man," he said. "For sure."

Biles gave a similar response on Tuesday, Aug. 6, during an interview with TODAY.

"Me and Jonathan always talk about kids," Biles revealed. "He would have them, like, yesterday if he could have. Obviously we both have goals that we want to achieve before we start a family, but yes: that's definitely in our future."

Biles went on to tell TODAY co-host Hoda Kotb that she "most definitely" can see herself one day becoming a mom.

In a 2023 interview ahead of her "redemption tour" comeback during the 2024 Paris Summer Olympics, Biles opened up about her eventually realizing that there is a life outside gymnastics and beyond the tumbling mat—one that clearly includes marriage and, potentially, motherhood.

“There’s so much more in life than gymnastics,” Biles said at the time. “I love what I do. But, at the end of the day, yes, I am a gymnast. I’m really good at what I do.

"But I won’t be doing gymnastics forever," she continued. "And there’s still things to look forward to past gymnastics where before I never thought so. It’s just always gymnastics. So, now it’s just a part of what I do. And it doesn’t really define who I am as much anymore.”

Danielle Campoamor
Weekend Editor

Danielle Campoamor is Marie Claire's weekend editor covering all things news, celebrity, politics, culture, live events, and more. In addition, she is an award-winning freelance writer and former NBC journalist with over a decade of digital media experience covering mental health, reproductive justice, abortion access, maternal mortality, gun violence, climate change, politics, celebrity news, culture, online trends, wellness, gender-based violence and other feminist issues. You can find her work in The New York Times, Washington Post, TIME, New York Magazine, CNN, MSNBC, NBC, TODAY, Vogue, Vanity Fair, Harper's Bazaar, Marie Claire, InStyle, Playboy, Teen Vogue, Glamour, The Daily Beast, Mother Jones, Prism, Newsweek, Slate, HuffPost and more. She currently lives in Brooklyn, New York with her husband and their two feral sons. When she is not writing, editing or doom scrolling she enjoys reading, cooking, debating current events and politics, traveling to Seattle to see her dear friends and losing Pokémon battles against her ruthless offspring. You can find her on X, Instagram, Threads, Facebook and all the places.