Simone Biles responded to a critic who questioned why she was posting “traveling selfies” in Belize soon after a near-death medical emergency in early June, saying the trip has been part of healing and learning to appreciate where she is.
When Simone Biles opened her Instagram comments from Belize, she didn’t just defend a vacation photo. She addressed the timing—and what she says the timing really means.
In response to a critic who questioned why she was taking “traveling selfies” in Belize shortly after experiencing a near-death medical emergency in early June, Biles wrote: “Ugh these comments make me sad,.”
She continued, “a little over two weeks ago, I experienced a serious medical emergency that could have ended very differently, and this trip has been part of allowing myself to heal & appreciate being here.”
The exchange unfolded in the comment section of a June 17 Instagram post that included multiple photos of her lounging. Biles captioned the post “Relaxing in paradise.”
Days before that Belize trip began circulating widely, Biles revealed she had been hospitalized after an incident on June 6. She told fans that “almost dying wasn’t on my bingo card earlier this week,” and she has yet to share additional details about what exactly happened.
In her Belize response, Biles also appealed for understanding. “I hope you understand that life changing experiences can shift your perspective. & that you’re able to extend a little more grace to others moving forward have a nice day!” she wrote to the commenter.
Biles had described the hospitalization as “one of, if not the scariest experience of my life.” She first broke the news by posting a photo of her arm with three hospital wristbands to her Instagram stories on Saturday, June 6.
“I’m not one to normally share things like this because I value privacy in today’s age,” she said in those stories. “But almost dying wasn’t on my bingo card earlier this week.”
The timing of the medical episode landed while her husband, NFL safety Jonathan Owens, was at training camp with his new team, the Indianapolis Colts. Biles told followers she had “been in bed resting this week” and added that she would “explain sooner or later” what happened.
She also posted another photo of herself in bed with her two dogs, writing, “i’ll be here.”
Her return to public life. and now her decision to be present on social media during a trip she described as part of healing. comes after a major athletic comeback cycle. Biles won four medals at the 2024 Paris Olympics, including three gold. It was her grand return after experiencing the “twisties. ” a gymnastics term for feeling disoriented while competing. and after withdrawing from the 2020 Tokyo Olympics.
Since then, she has become an advocate for mental health awareness—an aspect of her public messaging that sits alongside this private-health chapter, where she’s asking for room to recover in her own way.
The sequence of her posts—hospital wristbands and rest on June 6, the June 17 Belize photos, and the comment exchange about “traveling selfies”—lands on a simple, human question: not whether she’s allowed to take a trip, but how people react to the parts of healing that don’t follow a script.
Simone Biles Belize Instagram near-death medical emergency Jonathan Owens Indianapolis Colts mental health awareness 2024 Paris Olympics twisties