Michael Owen and Gemma have taken viewers behind closed doors in meet the Owens, a new Prime Video series built around life at home. The 46-year-old former England striker says the project is not a staged revision of his public image, but a look at the family as they really are.
Gemma, 23, said opening the family home to cameras was “a big decision,” and called it a chance to show another side to her dad and his passion for racing. Michael Owen said the series “started off being about the stables,” before the crew became relaxed enough for the family to let them into home life.
Gemma and the home cameras
“Dad has always been the centre of attention - the life and soul of the party!” Gemma said, pushing back on the version of her father that has followed him for years. She added that he has “a bit of a reputation for being boring or miserable,” which is exactly the sort of gap Meet the Owens is built to close.
Michael Owen said, “If you're seen as something you're not, you naturally want people to see how you really are.” He also said, “We are just normal people, we didn't want anything staged.” That matters because the series is selling access, not polish: the value for Prime Video is the sense that the audience is seeing a private family setup rather than a glossy football afterlife package.
Michael Owen at 46
“It was a misrepresentation.” Michael Owen said that plainly about how he has been portrayed for 46 years. He also said, “To be honest, my mates and football colleagues have giggled for 25 years at how people perceive me!” and added, “Early on in my career, I was probably micromanaged into being this 'whiter-than-white' figure who never did anything wrong.”
That contradiction drives the series. The public version of Owen was built around discipline and distance; the private version now being shown is a father talking about guilt, family life, Louise, and a house where the cameras were only allowed in after trust had built up. The series uses that friction as its hook, and it gives the programme a clearer point of view than a standard celebrity home visit.
Liverpool, Madrid and England
Owen’s football résumé still hangs over everything. He played as a striker for Liverpool, Real Madrid, Manchester United and England, and he won the Ballon d'Or. That history explains why a domestic series about him is not just another celebrity profile: the draw is the gap between the old sports image and the version his daughter is now putting on screen.
Michael Owen also said he has met Queen Elizabeth II on several occasions, including a moment when he and Louise had lunch with her at Windsor Castle and rode in the carriages down the straight at Royal Ascot. That is a very different sort of public life from the one he is now trying to correct on camera, and it makes Meet the Owens more than a nostalgia piece.
For now, the practical answer is simple: the series exists, the family has opened its home, and the conversation around Owen has shifted from old headlines to how he wants to be seen now. The bigger watchpoint is whether Prime Video turns that access into a proper audience habit, because the show’s appeal rests on whether viewers want the private man more than the famous striker.
