Simone Biles's biological mother has just four words to tell the world about her emotionally troubled superstar daughter. 'She's gonna be OK.'
Shanon Biles had those encouraging words after the seven-time Olympic-medalist shockingly pulled out of the US team gymnast event in Tokyo.
But she declined to comment further as she spoke exclusively to DailyMail.com on the doorstep of her red-brick row house in Columbus, Ohio.
Shanon, 49, has pulled her life together after having to give up Simone and her three siblings to foster parents when they were small. At the time Shanon was suffering from chronic drug abuse.
Now sober and healthy, she is avidly following the Olympian, and like the rest of America was dismayed when Simone, 24, stumbled badly on Monday before quitting the team leaving teammates Jordan Chiles, Grace McCallum and Sunisa Lee to fight on for the silver medal.
Simone Biles's biological mother, Shanon (pictured left in 2016) was confident her daughter is 'going to be OK' when she spoke to DailyMail.com after the Olympic gymnast's shock exit on Tuesday
Shanon Biles pictured with three of her children - Tevin (left), Simone (center) and Ashley (right). The mom had to give up Simone and her siblings to foster parents when they were young due to her battle with chronic drug abuse
They were beaten out by members of the Russian Olympic Committee team.
Simone told reporters she had to pull out 'to focus on my wellbeing.'
'I'm OK,' she said. 'Just dealing with some things internally which will get fixed out in the next couple of days.'
She hopes to be able to compete in individual competition later in the Games.
She is next due in action on Thursday in the all-around final - an event she hasn't lost in any level of competition since 2013.
'You know, there's more to life than just gymnastics,' Simone said.
'It is very unfortunate that it has to happen at this stage because I definitely wanted this Olympics to go a little bit better but again, we'll take it one day at a time and we're going to see how the rest goes.'
Simone was born in Columbus, the third of four children. But her mother's addiction led to all four being placed into foster care.
When Simone was three, she and her younger sister, Adria, were taken in by her maternal grandfather Ron Biles and his second wife Nellie Cayetano and she moved to Spring, a suburb of Houston, Texas.
Simone made a very uncharacteristic - and very severe - error during her vault, bailing out of her intended skill mid-way through and only completing one-and-a-half twists instead of two-and-a-half
The 24-year-old - who had been expected to lead the US to gold in the team event - was withdrawn from the lineup after flubbing her vault in the opening minutes of the team final competition in Tokyo on Tuesday
Gymnastics superstar Simone Biles was pulled out of the team final because of a 'mental issue' following a shock error on vault - leaving her forced to watch from the sidelines as her teammates suffered an agonizing defeat to their Russian rivals
When Simone was six, Ron and Nellie formally adopted her and Adria. Her older sister Ashley and brother Tevin were adopted by Ron's sister Harriett Thomas.
'It was hard to give up my kids but I had to do what I had to, I wasn't able to care for them,' Shanon Biles told DailyMail.com in an exclusive interview during the 2016 Olympics in Rio de Janeiro.
'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.
'I was still using, and he didn't want me coming in and out of their lives when I wasn't right.
'I was hard-headed, I didn't care, screaming, 'I want to see my kids, why you doing this to me?'
'I didn't understand it at the time but years later, I understood why. I had to deal with me first.'
Simone's biological father, Kelvin Clemons, also struggled with his own addictions. Shanon said the pair met as teenagers.
