Former England soccer star Michael Owen has confessed that he has never told his children he loves them as he opened up about his difficulties with expressing emotion.
The 46-year-old former striker offered an intimate look into his domestic life as a father-of-four during an appearance on Jamie Laing's Great Company podcast, where he admitted he is far from a parent who hands out soft love.
Owen explained that while his four children are the dearest things to him, he is not a parent who gushes about his feelings towards his family.
"I never ever tell my kids I love them," Owen said on the show. "I don't say anything like that. I just assume my actions would show them that I love them. It's a bad thing. I think most of us are like that."
Podcast host Jamie Laing, the former Made in Chelsea reality star, was visibly shocked by the confession and quickly challenged the former footballer's approach to parenting.
"It's not a good thing. It's not healthy," Laing said during the broadcast.
Parenting philosophy and tough love stance
Owen defended his mindset by questioning whether expressing affection too frequently reduces its impact over time.
"But if you say it all the time, does it mean anything?" Owen asked. "Kissing your kid, sending them to school, no matter what they do you just keep saying well done, and if they do rubbish, [saying] 'Oh, you're trying awfully hard.' No, I like tough love."
The former sportsman added that he was not trying to condone his emotional restraint, admitting he would love to be a bit soft, but suggested that age is helping him evolve.
"I think it comes with age as well, you get better when you're old, you've got time to think a bit more and you realise the true meaning of things," Owen said. "I'm definitely getting softer, but still not soft enough to say something like that."
Owen gained international fame as a prodigiously talented striker for Liverpool and England, winning the Ballon d'Or award in 2001 before playing for Real Madrid, Newcastle United, Manchester United, and Stoke City during a distinguished football career.
During the same podcast recording, Owen revealed another unusual personal opinion when he stated that he considers anyone who watches movies to be a weirdo.
Asked to name his biggest turn-off, Owen responded: "People that watch films. Virtually everybody on this planet... If you watch films, I think you're a bit of a weirdo in my book. Not that I am not weird for not watching them."
The declaration left host Laing and the podcast production crew in hysterics, but Owen maintained his stance against fictional cinema.
"I can't watch films," Owen added. "What are you doing with your life if you're just watching fakeness? Sorry 99.9999% of the population. You're all weirdos."
Personal habits and dietary preferences
The former footballer also revealed that he has never drunk a cup of tea or coffee in his life because he simply does not like hot beverages.
The admission aligns with comments made by his friend and former Liverpool teammate Peter Crouch, who discussed Owen's lifestyle habits on his own podcast in 2023.
"Michael Owen's never had a tea or coffee in his life," Crouch said on That Peter Crouch Podcast in 2023. "He's never had one. He doesn't like it. He's watched three films in his life - genuinely - and he's never had tea or coffee. Doesn't enjoy films, or tea or coffee."
Owen himself had previously discussed his hot drink avoidance in 2018, stating: "I've never drunk a cup of tea in my life, or coffee for that matter. But I've just learnt how to make one."
Apple bin meme and social media backlash
The podcast confessions coincide with Owen addressing the widespread public mockery he faced after sharing a story about building up his personal confidence as a child.
In 2023, Owen became a viral meme after discussing his drive for success, revealing he felt brave enough as a child to risk throwing an apple core into a bin at his family home despite knowing he might miss.
The anecdote generated immediate social media reaction, with internet users posting satirical comments and sharing videos of themselves throwing apple cores into wastepaper baskets.
In his upcoming Prime Video reality series, Meet The Owens, the 46-year-old reflects on the viral reaction while traveling to record a podcast episode with his former England and Manchester United teammate Wayne Rooney.
"It became a meme and everybody laughed at it," Owen sighed on camera. "That's cool because the vast majority of people who laughed at it, don't get it. And that's why they're bloody muppets."
"Probably still living in their mum and dad's house when they're 40 years of age, it's like who's a***d?" Owen added with a wry smile.
Owen's parents, Terry Owen and Jeanette Owen, also defended their son on the program, insisting that critics misunderstood his intense competitive nature.
"People twist things, like this apple in the bin, 'big deal'," his parents chimed in during the show. "Life was a competition, he always liked to win everything... and I would go mad because it would hit the wallpaper!"
Meet The Owens release date and docuseries details
The family dynamic is central to Meet The Owens, a six-part fly-on-the-wall docuseries produced by production company Whisper for Prime Video.
The series follows a full year in the lives of Owen, his wife Louise, and their four children, Gemma, James, Emily, and Jessica, as they manage a professional horse racing business alongside a chaotic home life.
The show documents Michael and Louise preparing for life as empty nesters while supporting their children's individual ambitions across various pursuits.
Youngest daughter Jessica dreams of becoming an Olympic showjumping champion, while 18-year-old Emily is striving to become the first member of the Owen family to attend university, and son James is considering joining the family business.
All six episodes of Meet The Owens will be available to stream exclusively on Prime Video from August 28, 2026.
