You'll Flip Over Learning What Shawn Johnson's Kids Want to Be When They Grow Up
Shawn Johnson East's son Jett has got a fast car. And the 3-year-old plans to turn it into a job that pays all his bills.
Asked what he wants to be when he grows up, the toddler has mentioned three jobs "all within the same genre," Shawn shared in an exclusive interview with E! News. "So either a fast airplane pilot, a fast car driver or a fast motorcycle driver."
As for 4-year-old Drew, she's eyeing one particular crowning achievement. Or, as Shawn put it, "My daughter still says, 'Princess.'"
For now, though, says the Olympic gymnast—who shares Drew, Jett, and 9-month-old son Bear with husband of eight years Andrew East—her little ones are happy to just be preschoolers.
Though she acknowledged that the last school year was a bit rough as they prepped for Bear's December arrival, "This year, our kids are thriving," raved Shawn. "They're doing so well. They have so much confidence going to school. They're excited at drop off. They're excited when they get home. So it's been really, really good."
And, yes, when it comes to competing in the notoriously strenuous getting-your-kids-off-to-school event, her brood almost always sticks the landing.
With screens off-limits on school days—"When you mix cartoons in, for us, it makes it harder," explains Shawn—her kids will often play outside their Nashville-area home, go on bike rides or help the athlete choose which veggie, fruit and protein to pack in their lunch with their beloved Nature's Bakery bars.
While strawberry is a fave flavor, Shawn's crew discovered the double chocolate and salted caramel brownie varieties when she partnered with the brand to help give away $45,000 to busy families. "And that's now an issue because that's all they want," the 32-year-old joked of the whole grain- and date-packed indulgence. "You could literally pair it with ice cream, it's that good."
And it's almost as sweet as the way she and Andrew, 33, get their kids pumped for a day of learning.
"This is going to sound ridiculous," Shawn admitted, before sharing how they've taken to blasting Rednex's catchy "Cotton Eye Joe" on the way to school. "We play it on repeat for the entire drive and they just dance their little hearts out. It's a vibe, but they love it."
But that's just part of the reason Shawn feels her squad is enjoying a particularly good season.
Jett is thriving as he starts to learn his letters, numbers and shapes, she shared, "and then my daughter, we're teaching her how to read right now, which is wild. This is a whole new world."
Though she cops to moments of lamenting how fast they're growing up, "We're getting into an age that's so fun," explained the four-time Olympic medalist, who's sprung into action to plan Drew's upcoming October birthday. "She's like, 'Mommy, I want this person and this person and this person invited,' which is so sweet."
Even though it does come with just the slightest hint of bitterness.
"You are losing your baby because they're growing up," Shawn acknowledged. "But then you're also gaining this human that is learning and maturing and becoming their own little thing. It's so cool to see and it's so fun to be challenged with the responsibility to foster that and grow who they are."
Plus, her crew returned to school with the coolest what-I-did-on-my-summer-vacation stories. Following their trip to the 2024 Paris Olympics, Shawn offered E! a peek inside their amazing European getaway.
While gymnast Shawn Johnson East picked up a gold medal and three silvers while competing at the 2008 Olympics, one could argue she deserves some more hardware for taking her whole squad—husband Andrew East and their kids Drew, Jett and Bear—to Paris 16 years later.
"I gave birth to Jett while Tokyo was going on," the athlete explained to E! News of welcoming her son in July 2021, "missed the Winter [Olympics]. I am craving the Olympic atmosphere. So we will all be there. We will be a circus walking, but we will be there."
Their trip down the Seine was a highlight of the madness. "We got to see SO many historic buildings," Shawn shared on Instagram, "and the kids loved it."
Getting to watch Simone Biles, Jordan Chiles, Jade Carey, Suni Lee and Hezly Rivera compete for the U.S. gymnastics team was a "full circle" moment, Shawn declared. "It sounds very cheesy and cliché," she told E! News, "but there is some sort of sentiment to being back at the Olympics, 16 years later, with my husband and my babies."
Though she acknowledged her 4-year-old daughter would likely judge just one element of the competition.
"Drew does enjoy watching gymnastics strictly for the leotards," Shawn admitted. "So she'll enjoy watching the leotards for maybe 20 minutes. And then we'll be good with it."
"Mom & Dad are on minimal sleep haha but having the absolute best time," Shawn declared on Instagram after their trip down the Seine River and visit to the Eiffel Tower. "Wouldn’t trade it for the world."
As for their trip to the famed monument, "There are 1,665 steps," Shawn shared on Instagram, "and we carried our kids up every one of them."
Though she acknowledged their weeks-long European adventure was ambitious, "We'll just figure it out," Shawn vowed ahead of the trip. "Our kids are very used to traveling."
After visiting Paris' Basilique du Sacré-Coeur de Montmartre along with a series of shops and restaurants, Shawn declared the outing, "Another day for the books."
The East fam sandwiched their stay in Paris with jaunts to London (where they enjoyed high tea and a visit to Buckingham Palace) and Sorrento, Italy.
"We're going to tour around Europe for a month," Shawn told E!. "We're going to do it all. We're doing trains, planes, and automobiles and boats."
Though Shawn cracked the highlight of the trip for her kids would be an outing to Disneyland Paris, she and Andrew enjoyed their beach day in Italy.
"If you asked us why we bring our kids on vacation, we'd say it's because we'd miss them too much," Shawn shared of taking their whole crew on the epic adventure. "But if you asked us on a deeper level, we would say because life is so much more fun with our kids by our side."
Having the chance to create core memories with their trio of tiny humans "is our dream come true," she continued, "and getting to see their faces light up with each new experience is worth every second."
The pair took in one last day in the Italian sun before heading home to Nashville. As Shawn declared on Instagram, it was the "trip of a lifetime."