Michael Owen Admits He Didn’t Want Daughter Gemma To Appear On Love Island

Gemma Owen might have wowed fans on Love Island, but her famous father, Michael Owen initially didn’t want her to go on the hit reality series.

Gemma appeared on season eight of Love Island in 2022, and finished in second place with her, now ex-boyfriend, Luca Bish.

But prior to entering the villa, her footballer father wasn’t thrilled with the idea. Michael confessed to Express that his first reaction was: “Oh, Gemma, no, don’t do that!”

But he quickly “calmed down” and was quick to stress that he would never stop Gemma from following her own path.

Continuing: “I was never going to block her path.”

“I sort of calmed down a little bit and came to the realisation that listen, if you want to go down that route in life, there’s probably no other better thing to do than to go on that show, I suppose.”

“You instantly go in with 50,000 followers on social media and you probably come out with millions and millions, and that’s what happened to her, I guess!”

And she certainly did find success on the show, as Gemma now has 1.9 million followers on Instagram, and landed a brand deal with Pretty Little Thing.

The 20-year-old recently sparked romance rumours with British polo player Tommy Severn.

While it is early days, the pair recently travelled to Ibiza together. For a wild night out on the town, in one of the Spanish city’s infamous nightclubs, you ask? No, for polo…of course!

A source told The Sun: “Gemma went to Ibiza to watch Tommy play polo in Ibiza this week.”

“They shared a photo from the same polo club and they’re both passionate about horses.” But equestrian sports aren’t the only thing they have in common as they both hail from famous families, Gemma as the daughter of footballer Michael Owen, and Tommy as the grandson of famed polo player Christopher Hanbury.

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• Gemma Owen
• Michael Owen