“I just want to bring up really nice people that have a happy life” – Michael Owen on his family, his horses and Meet the Owens

Described by my friend Jimmy as ‘the greatest teenage footballer the world has ever seen,’ I found myself in uncharted territory last week when I went to meet Michael Owen and his family.

I’m not the first person you’d want on your pub quiz team when it comes to sports trivia, but even I understand the incredible legacy that Michael has left on football. Arriving in Cheshire amidst a torrential downpour, we were greeted by Michael and his daughter Gemma who gave us a personal guided tour of their Manor House Stables.

Walking around, their love for the horses was evident in different ways. Michael loved sharing fun facts and stories, excited for us to meet the horses owned by Luke Littler, Sir Alex Ferguson and a whole host of sporting greats. Gemma worked quietly alongside him, gently fussing each horse we visited and happy to chat away if we had any questions. Together they made a great team and made us all feel welcome and at home.

What inspired their docuseries, Meet the Owens?

All of this was in celebration of a new reality show, Meet the Owens, coming to Prime this week. Whisper, the producers, are Emmy-nominated documentary makers, known for capturing intimate stories such as that of Sven. Though they touch on Michael’s football career extensively, the real focus of the show is his modern-day life in the horse world.

When we sit down to chat, Michael explains that publicising the stables was one of the reasons he wanted to do the show. “People say to me, ‘what do you do nowadays? I see you on the television, but don’t you like your horses?’ But this is a business I’ve had for 23 years now! I’m proud of it, and I want to show it off.”

It’s natural to have favourites, and here’s why Louise is mine

It’s hard to say who Meet the Owens has been aimed at, because the football lovers will want to hear from Michael and the Instagram generation will love seeing Gemma. But for me, it’s further into the series where the magic happens. We get to know Louise.

Early on in the tour, someone asked Michael if he had a favourite horse. He joked that it was only natural to have favourites among both the horses and the children. Later on, I told him and Gemma that I couldn’t help having favourites either, and that I was happy to meet my favourite Owen, Louise! What can I say? She seemed kind, smiley and generally quite nurturing, overall my kind of person.

Sharing their back story on the show, we learn that Michael’s wife has been with him since the very beginning. Her parents lived ten doors down from Michael’s growing up, and they’ve been together ever since.

When you consider any sporting professional and the pressure that they’re under, I can’t help but ponder the responsibility this puts on their partners. A few episodes into the show, Louise reflects on the time they spent in Spain when Michael joined Real Madrid. This was the opportunity of a lifetime for him, an unthinkable career move, but she found this period really challenging.

They both opened up here and it made for profound viewing. To paraphrase, Louise explained that this was a lonely time for her, and Michael shared that he felt very torn between wanting to spend time with her and needing to socialise with his new team members. A young man joining a squad of players like Beckham and Ronaldo, desperate to fit in? A young woman in a new country, alone all day and with a tiny baby to take care of? My heart went out to both.

We’re so used to people with this level of fame being media trained to within an inch of their lives. These admissions were so unexpected and I think they’ll catch people off guard. If Michael Owen can open up about times like these, it gives permission for the men that admire him to do the same. I really hope and feel that, by being so candid, they’ll inspire meaningful conversations in other families when they watch at home.

Getting to know the Owens

More tender moments follow when we meet their son, James. There’s a lot of insight into James’ condition, Stargardt disease, which drastically impacts his sight. I thought Whisper did a really tasteful job of bringing this to life. They gently used shadows on the screen to give the viewer an idea of what James’ vision is like day to day.

When speaking about James, Louise is very graceful. She worries that other families have harder struggles than theirs and shows huge gratitude for everything that they have. It’s such a sign of the times, isn’t it? For a family under this much scrutiny, every misspoken word can be a headline and click bait. I’m glad she still opened up, and I think every mother watching this will feel a connection to her regardless of whether her house is bigger than theirs.

Is Michael Owen boring?

Asking Michael about the impact of having the cameras around, he laughed and told me that “people have possibly seen me as boring and miserable for years and years. But we’re just a normal family. People sometimes look at you like you’ve got two heads because you were good at football, but there’s a lot of unsung heroes that do astonishing things day to day. It just so happens that the thing I was good at, everyone loves that sport, so you get fame and fortune and the rest of it added in.”

Meeting him, I didn’t think Michael was boring at all. Quite the opposite, in fact. As part of our immersion into the stables we were all expected to mount the equicizer with his hilarious racing trainer, Franny. The Owens are all quite gentle and easy to be around, and if that’s what equates to boring, I can happily get on board with it.

Ending our day at Manor House Stables

Sat in our marquee, having tea and cakes and waiting for our interview slots, a group of us journalists bonded about how special it was to be there. Every one of us was buzzing. If you’ve read my Substack before, you’ll know how much I love the idea of honouring your inner child, of being playful and having fun. Little me would have had kittens to meet the man who’s face I was always hoping to see when I opened up a fresh pack of Merlin stickers. (If you loved those as much as I did, there are a load of them on eBay.)

As for the show, my one suggestion would be to watch a few episodes of this before you make your mind up. The chats get more enjoyable as the episodes go on, and it’s only by persevering that you will actually feel as though you get to meet the Owens.

Meet the Owens is nowhere near as dramatic as your average reality show, but there’s something quite easy and cosy about how normal they all are. Don’t get me wrong, there’s still an element of escape here. Their house is enormous and gorgeous and it’s nice to have a look around. But ultimately people will see themselves in this family, and that’s why it’s going to resonate.

In a funny turn of events, meeting the rich and famous Owens taught me that there is big magic in ordinary life. It doesn’t matter your treasures or possessions. Love, loneliness, joys, worries; they touch every single person. And, of course, if you’re passionate about horses then there will be lots in here for you to love.

Meet the Owens is available to stream on Prime from this Friday 28^th August.