Simone Biles recently opened up about being placed in the spotlight when it came to advocating for mental health. Following her decision to pull out of the 2020 Olympics due to personal mental health issues, the gymnast became a public figure for taking care of oneself by prioritizing mental health over anything else. But returning to the sport after two years, the seven-time Olympic medal winner now reveals to Vanity Fair that she wasn't very fond of being placed on a pedestal. "I was not OK with that," she said.
"If I can be a lending hand and help people, then I’ll be open, honest, and vulnerable, but you cannot stick me in front of a crowd and say, ‘Do everything she’s doing,’” she continued. She further talked about what it was like dealing with her mental health.
“I wish I could sit here and tell you it was glorious,” she said in regards to her time away. “When I took a break after 2016, I had the time of my life. I was doing anything and everything. But after 2020, it was kind of depressing until I started therapy and got help."
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"I felt like a failure," she continued. "Even though I was empowering so many people and speaking out about mental health, every time I talked about my experience in Tokyo — because it obviously didn’t go the way that I had planned — it stung a little bit."
But that didn't make the gymnast regret her decision to step away for a while. "All in all, it was the best decision,” she said. “I’ve always been in therapy [and] I’ve always been an advocate for medicine."
Within the same interview, Simone also talked about how she felt about her fame. “I think everyone wants to be famous, and then when it happens, you almost hit a wall and you have an identity crisis," she said. "You’re like, 'Am I made out for this? Why did I wish for this?'”
“I’m not saying that [people] scream and line up like I’m Taylor Swift," she continued. "I still get a lot of attention. When five people come up to me and they’re rushing for a photo, I just get a little flustered. My anxiety kicks in.”
She also opened up about meeting her husband, Jonathan Owens. “I had just broken up [with someone] and my friend was like, ‘Get on Raya, get on Raya,’” she recalled. “My guard went straight up when she said dating site.” And yet her first week on the app, she matched with Jonathan. “The second week I met him in person, and the rest is history. We were hooked."
The two wed in April of 2023. “I was 19 when I won my first Olympics, and I was like, 'How am I supposed to top this?'" she said. "My wedding topped it. It was the greatest feeling ever.”
