Gymnastics superstar Simone Biles has been THE talk of the Rio 2016 Olympics—mostly for her amazing skills in the gym, which have earned her 3 gold medals and one bronze so far (with another chance at gold on the floor exercise coming up this afternoon!!) but also about her past and family history.
Biles was born on March 14, 1997, to a mother who was already addicted to drugs and alcohol. When she was three, children’s services called her maternal grandfather and told him she was in foster care. “I said, ‘Send them to me,'” Ron Biles told TIME Magazine of Simone and her two older siblings. She went back with her mother for a time, but when she was five, her mom’s parental rights were completely terminated and she was back in foster care again. It was then that Ron Biles and his wife Nellie ceased being parents to Simone and her younger sister Adria, who was 14 months at the time, and legally adopted them. Simone called them “Mom and Dad” from the start.” When I was younger, I thought every kid was adopted,” she told TIME. “I didn’t understand why people made it such a big deal. To me it’s just normal.”
NBC Commentator Al Trautwig made a big stink when he refused to call Ron and Nellie Biles Simone’s parents, insisting on calling them her “grandparents”. But after a Twitter fight over the flap, he apologized. Simone has always maintained that they are her PARENTS, and that’s that! And this adorable video of Simone and her mom Nellie prove that once and for all. In it, the two talk about their relationship and it’s easy to see the mother-daughter bond is 100% real and as strong and Biles’ leg muscles when she lands a crazy tumbling run.
I love the way they interact here, it’s TOO cute—especially when Nellie talks about Simone winning her first World Championship in 2013.
Congrats to Simone on your huge accomplishments and on representing the USA—and your parents—in a world-class way!