Simone Biles’ Birth Mom Reveals Honest Truth About Her Adoption
Behind the unbridled success and the golden smile of Simone Biles, the most decorated U.S. gymnast in Olympic history, is a painful past.
At the age of three, Simone and her three siblings found themselves in foster care amid their biological mother’s drug and alcohol problem. Simone’s grandfather, Ron Biles, and his wife, Nellie Cayetano, ended up adopting Simone and her younger sister, Adria, some years later, while their elder siblings fell into the care of Ron’s sister, Harriet.
It was a traumatic experience for Simone and her siblings, to say the least, which speaks volumes of her character and her ability to overcome adversity at such a young age.
Right now, Biles is widely considered the greatest gymnast in the history of the sport, and her 11 Olympic medals (four of them came from the recently concluded Paris Games) are a clear testament to this fact.
Simone’s biological mother, Shannon Biles, also saw this as an opportune time to speak her truth about her own harrowing experience of having to give up her children because of her alcohol and substance abuse problem many years ago.
Shannon, 52, admits that at that time, she had no other choice but to give up her kids because she “wasn’t able to care for them.” Speaking to Laura Collins of Daily Mail, Simone’s estranged birth mom got brutally honest about how she had to completely take herself out of her children’s lives.
“When we signed the [adoption] papers, it was like my dad flipped a switch on me – no communication, don’t call, and don’t visit,” Shannon said. “That’s how it was in the beginning.
“It took me six years before I saw my children again. I was respecting my Dad to let the kids transition, he felt that was the best thing for them.
Shannon confessed that she constantly fought with her father to be able to see Simone and her siblings, which, in retrospect, is something Shannon admits was wrong of her.
“I was hard-headed. I didn’t care, screaming, ‘I want to see my kids, why you doing this to me?'” she continued.
“I didn’t understand at the time but years later, I understood why. I had to deal with me first.”
At this point, Shannon and Simone do not have a close relationship. Shannon revealed that she is able to speak to Simone from time to time, but it is clear that they are not exactly on the best of terms.
“What I hear about Simone, I hear through my dad,” Shannon added. “I speak to my dad all the time. We’re good now.”
“… I want to let her know I love her and I’m very proud of her. But I’m still waiting. … I can’t keep dwelling on it. Whenever she’s ready I’m here and willing to receive.”
