Is Simone Biles’ Mom in the Mounjaro Commercial?
Separating fact from advertising partnership and disclosure
(By Carmichael Phillip)
The advert and the claim
In 2024 and continuing into 2025, Simone Biles has been featured in a series of national advertisements for the GLP-1 / diabetes / metabolic drug Mounjaro. Among these campaigns, her mother, Nellie Biles, is also included in some commercials and promotional materials.
One such spot is titled “Olympics: Working Hard,” which runs sixty seconds and features scenes of Simone Biles’ gymnastics performance interspersed with home shots and narration in the voice of Nellie Biles.
In the opening of the ad, a voiceover (attributed to Nellie) says:
“My daughter works hard, and so do people with type 2 diabetes. But if their efforts aren’t enough, could people do diabetes differently?”
Visually, the commercial shifts between Simone in performance mode and Nellie walking on the gym sidelines, eventually culminating in a joint shot of Simone and Nellie side by side as Simone says:
“You can do diabetes differently, with Mounjaro.”
Therefore, yes, Simone Biles’ mother appears in the commercial (on camera) and is heard (in voiceover). This is not simply an implication but a confirmed participation in the ad campaign.
However, there is an important nuance to emphasize: Nellie Biles is included as a spokesperson and part of the narrative context, but she does not, by public disclosure, take Mounjaro herself.
Below, we’ll unpack how this partnership works, how disclosures are handled, and what this means for the commercial messaging.
Details of Nellie’s role and involvement
In interviews and in promotional web pages by the manufacturer (Eli Lilly), Nellie Biles is introduced as a Type 2 Diabetes Awareness Ally. The Mounjaro website explicitly states that Nellie lives with type 2 diabetes, even though she is not using Mounjaro.
The site also clarifies in multiple places:
“Simone Biles does not have type 2 diabetes and does not take Mounjaro. Simone and Nellie Biles do not take Mounjaro. Paid partnership with Lilly.”
Moreover, media reporting confirms this by stating:
“Simone doesn’t have type 2 diabetes. Her mom does and, while Nellie doesn’t take Mounjaro, it has tapped her and Simone for a TV spot about the GLP-1 drug.”
In other words, Nellie’s role is not as a patient of Mounjaro, but as someone who embodies the lived experience of type 2 diabetes in the narrative the ad is trying to advance.
The ad’s storytelling invites empathy and identification: a mother and daughter duo, one living with type 2 diabetes, the other a high-profile athlete, working together to support awareness.
Thus, Nellie is both on-screen (visibly) and as narrator (voiceover) in the commercial, but her involvement is framed as advocacy and narrative, not as a testimonial of use.
Why she appears: campaign strategy and messaging
The inclusion of Nellie serves several strategic goals for the ad:
Emotional credibility: Having a real person with the condition (type 2 diabetes) helps anchor the messaging in lived reality rather than abstraction.
Connection to Simone: Simone Biles is globally recognized; associating her with her mother gives personal stakes and access to audiences who admire her.
Awareness positioning: The ad is part of awareness and education efforts for diabetes treatment options, not a purely weight-loss narrative.
Regulatory clarity: Because Nellie does not use the drug, the ad avoids making a misleading claim of personal benefit. Instead, she is a figure to contextualize the disease.
In marketing trade highlights, it was noted that Eli Lilly’s campaign “partnered Simone Biles and her mom Nellie to promote the GLP-1 diabetes drug Mounjaro.”
This approach is relatively common in pharma advertising: pairing public figures with persons living with the condition to lend authenticity and narrative heft while ensuring regulatory compliance around claims.
Audience reaction, scrutiny, and controversy
Not surprisingly, the campaign has drawn public attention and scrutiny. Some viewers have questioned whether the involvement of Simone and Nellie is misleading — especially given that Simone does not have diabetes, and Nellie does not take the advertised medication.
One thread on a forum commented:
“According to this story, Biles doesn’t have T2 diabetes but her mother does. But her mother doesn’t take Mounjaro for it.”
Critics argue that by placing Simone in a narrative about diabetes, the commercial potentially blurs lines between awareness and endorsement, leveraging Simone’s credibility while not strictly disclosing who is or is not a user of the drug.
In media coverage, some also flagged that the campaign might lead to confusion among viewers: given Simone’s massive following and reputation, people might infer she or her mother use Mounjaro, despite clear disclaimers.
In interviews, Nellie has spoken about her condition, but not about using the drug, and media outlets confirm that she is not a Mounjaro user.
Thus, while she is present in the commercial, the involvement is carefully scripted and disclosed, though not immune to critique.
Legal and regulatory disclosures in pharma ads
Pharmaceutical advertising is a highly regulated domain in the U.S. Strict rules govern what claims can be made, how side effects must be stated, and how testimonials are presented.
In this context:
Because Nellie does not take Mounjaro, the ad does not present her as a user who benefited from it.
The disclaimers (“does not take Mounjaro,” “paid partnership”) are posted in the awareness pages and in small print disclosures.
The campaign is branded as an awareness effort, not as a guarantee of effect or cure.
By pairing Simone (a public figure without the disease) with Nellie (a person living with the disease but not a user), the ad treads a line between inspiration and product marketing, which regulators often watch closely.
The transparency about who takes the drug is key to avoiding accusations of false advertising. In that sense, the commercial seems to try to walk a careful path.
Conclusion: Yes, but with caveats
So, to answer the question: Is Simone Biles’ mom in the Mounjaro commercial? — yes, Nellie Biles participates both visually and in voiceover in the Mounjaro advertising campaign.
However, her role is as a narrative figure and awareness voice, not as a user or patient of Mounjaro. She does not take the drug and is not presented as having done so—a point that is disclosed in campaign materials.
This structure allows the ad to combine personal resonance (a mother-daughter duo) with awareness messaging around a drug, while maintaining compliance with pharmaceutical marketing guidelines.
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