Michael Owen has defended his daughter Gemma, amid her stint on Love Island.
Since the 19-year-old made her debut on the show on Monday, Gemma has been targeted by trolls on social media making nasty comments about her personality.
Speaking to MailOnline, Gemma’s famous footballer father admitted it’s been difficult to see the criticism of his daughter online.
Michael said: “It’s hard because I have three other kids [James, 16, Emily, 14, and Jessica, 12] and this is their sister and they are reading this stuff.”
The former Liverpool player said it’s been more difficult for his wife Louise to process.
“I know she’s been used to that sort of thing with me — I’ve had it all my life; to look at my social media feeds you’d think 70 per cent of the world hates me, but it’s different when it’s your daughter.”
“For Louise it’s more difficult,” he confessed.
Defending his daughter’s personality, the 42-year-old said: “She’s the most amazing girl you could meet.”
“She’s clever and funny and kind. She’s not two-faced. She’s loyal, a decent person.”
“She’s still our baby. I’m still my parents’ baby and I’m 42! It’s how it is,” he added.
While Michael admitted seeing his daughter on Love Island is “not something any father wants to watch”, the sports star explained why he let her sign up for the show.
He said: “It was about six weeks ago. She said she’d been approached by the producers.”
“She talked about it with her mum first — they are like peas in a pod, best friends — and then they raised the subject with me over lunch.”
“As I say, I’d never watched it, but I had a perception about Love Island. I think a lot of dads would think it’s the most awful bit of news. My initial reaction was, ‘no! don’t do it.'”
“She’d thought a lot about it, listing the pros and the cons, but the more we talked about it, the more I saw she was veering towards wanting to do it,” he continued.
“She wanted to do something for herself, to get her own personality out there, meet new friends and enjoy her summer, but she was agonising over it.”
“She wanted our blessing. She would never do something if she thought we’d be ashamed or disappointed in her, or her grandparents would be disappointed.”
“You have two choices. You can either say, ‘no way. No daughter of mine…,’ or you can be supportive. I think being supportive is always the better option. I suppose it comes down to love and trust.”
“Eventually I looked at it like this: ‘This is the test. If we’ve done everything right in bringing her up, which I think we have, then we shouldn’t be scared of this.'”
“It wouldn’t have been my choice, but at some point you’ve got to trust your own parenting,” he explained. “You have to let them go, spread their wings. She’s a sensible girl. She won’t do anything that’ll make us ashamed.”
Michael also said he’s been surprised over the reaction to Gemma’s age online.
He said: “She’s a mature 19. She’s a bit like me in that regard. I was playing for Liverpool when I was 17, and having to make friends with 23, 24, 25-year-olds.”
“The bottom line is, she’s an adult and I have to trust her to make sensible decisions.”
Love Island continues on Sunday night at 9pm on Virgin Media Two.
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