Meet Simone Biles’ Parents: Nellie Biles, Ronald Biles, Shanon Biles, and Kelvin Clemons

Simone Arianne Biles was born on March 14, 1997, in Columbus, Ohio, making her 29 years old. Her astrological sign is Pisces.

She is African American, and in 2013, she became the first African American woman to win the all-around world gymnastics championship. Through her adoptive mother, Nellie Biles, who is originally from Belize, she also holds Belizean citizenship and calls Belize her second home. She and her family are Catholic.

Her biological mother, Shanon Biles, struggled with substance abuse and was unable to adequately care for her children, who were eventually removed from the home and placed into the foster care system. Simone moved to Spring, Texas, at around age three when her grandparents stepped in.

She was formally adopted by her maternal grandfather, Ronald Biles, and his wife, Nellie Biles, at age six. Her biological father, Kelvin Clemons, has never been part of her life. Simone has always referred to Ronald and Nellie as her parents.

Simone has three biological siblings, sisters Adria Biles and Ashley Biles Thomas, and a brother named Tevin Biles. Ashley and Tevin were adopted by a great-aunt, while Adria was adopted alongside Simone by Ronald and Nellie. Through her adoptive family, she also became close with two older brothers, Ron Biles Jr. and Adam Biles.

She attended Benfer Elementary School but, in 2012, switched to homeschooling, a move that allowed her to train for approximately 32 hours per week. She completed high school in 2015 and, rather than pursuing college gymnastics at UCLA, chose to turn professional and commit full-time to her elite career. Her gymnastics journey began at age six after a daycare field trip to Bannon’s Gymnastix in Houston sparked her interest.

Simone stands at 4 feet 8 inches tall.

In 2017, she said she had never had a boyfriend before and had barely been on a proper date, a reflection of how consuming her training had been throughout her teenage years. Her first known public relationship was with former gymnast and WWE personality Stacey Ervin Jr., whom she first met at the P&G Gymnastics Championships in 2014.

The two did not begin dating until 2017, when Nellie hired Stacey as a gym trainer while Simone was away filming Dancing With the Stars, and the pair reconnected on her return. They went public with their romance in August 2017. The relationship lasted nearly three years before they parted ways in early 2020, with Simone later confirming the split in a Vogue interview, describing it as difficult but ultimately the right decision for both of them.

In March 2020, she and NFL player Jonathan Owens matched on a celebrity dating app and began chatting, soon discovering they were both based in the Houston area. Jonathan proposed on Valentine’s Day 2022 in a beautifully arranged outdoor setting.

The couple married first in a small courthouse ceremony in Houston on April 22, 2023, and then celebrated with a destination wedding in Cabo San Lucas, Mexico, on May 6, 2023, attended by over a hundred guests.

It is Simone‘s first and only marriage. The couple has no children, though Simone has spoken publicly about her desire to start a family in the future.

Nellie Biles

Of all the figures in Simone Biles‘ life, none has been more central than Nellie Biles, the woman Simone calls Mom. Nellie is Simone‘s adoptive mother and paternal step-grandmother. Though not biologically related, that distinction has never mattered to either of them.

Originally from Belize, Nellie came to the United States to pursue her education. She was still a nursing student in San Antonio, Texas, when she met Ronald Biles in the late 1970s. The two married on January 16, 1977.

Nellie built a career as a nurse before co-owning several nursing homes across Texas. When Simone and her younger sister Adria were placed in foster care due to their biological mother’s battle with addiction, Nellie stepped forward with Ronald to offer both girls a permanent home.

Adopting young children later in life was not a decision Nellie took lightly. She spoke candidly about praying for a bond that would transform guardianship into true parenthood—the feeling that she would do anything for those children. She says that feeling arrived, bringing the certainty that she was truly their mother.

Nellie enrolled six-year-old Simone in gymnastics after a daycare visit to a local gymnasium sparked the young girl’s interest. Simone never looked back. Nellie attended virtually every practice and cheered from the sidelines at the Olympics.

She later helped Simone plan her wedding to NFL player Jonathan Owens in Cabo San Lucas in May 2023. Simone has described her mother as someone she looks to for advice and as a model of steady, unconditional love in practice. Together with Ronald, Nellie also co-owns the World Champions Centre training facility in Spring, Texas, where Simone has trained throughout much of her career.

Ronald Biles

Ronald Biles, known to family and friends as Ron, is Simone‘s adoptive father and her maternal grandfather. He is the biological father of Shanon Biles, Simone‘s birth mother, making him the man who raised both Shanon and Simone.

Ron served in the United States Air Force and later became an air traffic controller. This career required precision, calm under pressure, and absolute reliability. These qualities appear to have carried over into his role as a father.

He was already a single parent to Shanon when he met Nellie in San Antonio in 1977. The two built a life together in Texas. When word reached Ron and Nellie that Simone and her siblings had been taken into foster care in Ohio, he did not hesitate. He and Nellie initially brought all four of Shanon‘s children to Texas. When circumstances eventually left only Simone and Adria with them permanently, Ron formally adopted both girls.

In the years that followed, Ron deliberately restricted contact between Shanon and the adopted children while she struggled with addiction. He insisted on a clean, stable environment for his granddaughters, now daughters. This stance later led to public tension with Shanon, though Simone has never openly disputed it.

Ron has been a fixture at Simone‘s competitions for decades. He watches from the stands with the unmistakable pride of a father who knows exactly what it cost to get his daughter to that moment. Simone has credited both him and Nellie with saving her life.

She once said in an interview that her parents set the standard for how she treats others. Alongside Nellie, he purchased the World Champions Centre in 2014. This made the family’s investment in Simone‘s gymnastics career both emotional and literal.

Shanon Biles

Shanon Biles is Simone‘s biological mother. She gave birth to Simone in Columbus, Ohio, on March 14, 1997. Shanon is Ronald Biles’s daughter. After Simone was adopted by Ronald and his wife, Shanon became, in the family structure, legally Simone’s sister, though she remains her biological mother.

Born in 1971, Shanon grew up mainly in Columbus and later in Cleveland. She had four children: Ashley, Tevin, Simone, and Adria. Her prolonged struggle with alcohol and drug addiction prevented her from providing a safe, stable home. Franklin County, Ohio, court records document theft-related charges during that period. The children entered foster care in 2000, when Simone was three.

Shanon has spoken about the pain of that period in her life. In interviews, she has said giving up her children was the hardest thing she has ever done and the most honest acknowledgment of her limitations at the time. She has been sober since 2007. In recent years, she has sought to rebuild a relationship with her daughters, regularly speaking with Adria and reaching out to Simone for forgiveness.

The relationship between Shanon and Simone has remained carefully managed and largely distant. Simone maintains contact primarily on birthdays and holidays, often with Nellie present. In interviews and in her memoir, Simone has made it clear that Nellie is the only mother she has truly known.

She has also expressed that she harbors no burning questions or lingering emptiness about her biological origins. Shanon continues to follow her daughter’s career closely and has publicly expressed great pride in Simone‘s achievements on the world stage.

Kelvin Clemons

Kelvin Clemons is Simone‘s biological father. He and Shanon Biles met as teenagers, and Simone was born from that relationship. Unlike Shanon, Kelvin has had virtually no involvement in Simone‘s life before or after her adoption.

According to Shanon, Kelvin also battled addiction during that period, contributing to his total absence from his children’s lives. He has never contacted Simone, and there is no public record of any relationship between them. He reportedly lives in Ohio but remains on the periphery of this family’s story.

The only insight into Kelvin‘s awareness of his daughter comes from Shanon. In a 2016 interview, she recalled occasional phone calls from him during Simone’s major competitions, when he simply said he was watching and proud. His pride remained distant, with no attempt to close the gap.

Simone has not publicly addressed her biological father in any meaningful depth. His absence appears to be a chapter of her life she has long since come to terms with. She has everything she has said she needs: a mother in Nellie, a father in Ron, and a family built not on biology alone, but on the kind of deliberate, daily love that quietly defines what a parent truly is.

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