Michael Owen has hit back at the wave of mockery he faced over a bizarre childhood story about throwing apple cores in a bin, branding his critics "bloody muppets" in his new Prime Video reality series.
The former England striker, 46, addressed the backlash in Meet The Owens, which follows his new life as a racehorse owner. On the show, Owen was on his way to record a podcast episode with his friend Wayne Rooney when he reflected on the fallout from his 2023 comments.
"It became a meme and everybody laughed at it," Owen said. "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?" he added with a wry smile.
The viral apple story
The saga began in 2023, when Owen became an internet meme after describing how, as a child, he would risk throwing an apple core into a bin from across the room at his family home, knowing he might miss, as a way of building his confidence and drive for success. The comments went viral, with social media users mocking him and recreating videos of themselves throwing apple cores into bins.
Owen's parents, Terry and Jeanette Owen, also weighed in on the show. "People twist things, like this apple in the bin, 'big deal'," they said. "Life was a competition, he always liked to win everything... and I would go mad because it would hit the wallpaper!"
Owen is one of just six British players to have won the Ballon d'Or and is remembered as one of the finest attacking talents English football has produced. He scored 222 professional goals across a 17-year career with Liverpool, Real Madrid and Newcastle United, among other clubs.
Speaking on Upfront with Simon Jordan three years ago, Owen explained the origins of the story in detail. "Everything was a challenge," he said. "I would eat an apple while watching the TV at night. The bin would be by the TV, six metres away or whatever. I would just do it. I had the bravery to miss and for there to be a stain on the wallpaper and my mum to absolutely scream at me and send me upstairs."
"I wasn't cocky at all, but the next day I would do the same and I'll be 'bump' and it'll go right in the middle and my dad would give me a nod of approval," he continued. "My mum would be seething, but couldn't say anything, because it went in. That confidence, that sort of daring, that nod of approval... I'm desperate for a little wink, a little nod from my dad. That's what I always yearned as a kid."
Financial struggles after football
Elsewhere in the series, Owen opened up about the financial pressures of swapping football for the racing industry. At the peak of his playing career, he earned roughly £110,000 a week at Newcastle United between 2005 and 2009. He retired from football in 2013 and is said to have a net worth of £54.4 million.
Since retiring, Owen has bred and trained racehorses at Manor House Stables in Cheshire, which he purchased after leaving the game. "The biggest challenge is the financial side," he said. "It's a bloody hard business and I can't keep haemorrhaging money."
He also reflected on the difficulty of walking away from football. "All of a sudden you're living under your wife's feet and you're settling into a new life," he said. "Retiring from football you no longer feel so valued, loved. There were feelings of adulation constantly, like a drug and you want to make people happy. When you're winning trophies all the time and scaring the s**t out of defenders that's what gave me my buzz. Injuries made me 50 percent of the player that I was, I was almost embarrassed to walk out with my name on my back so I was desperate to retire. And that's pretty sad, when you just don't enjoy your job. I've come to realise I need a purpose in life."
Owen bought his first racehorse at 18, shortly after returning from the 1998 World Cup, and later decided to make horseracing his full-time career after football. He admitted the business is unpredictable and that he is often competing against people "who have much bigger pockets" than him, including members of foreign royal families and dignitaries who outbid him at auction.
"My sweet spot with horses is anything between £30,000 and £100,000," he explained, before telling his wife Louise he had spent £273,000 buying three horses in a single day.
Family life and The Masked Singer
His wife, Louise, 46, spoke about the strain of his business decisions. "Michael doesn't tell me anything so I have to trust he's in control," she said. "Michael is very odd about spending money. He won't think twice about spending money on a horse, but if the kids leave a light on in the house he will hit the roof! Or if I want to redecorate the bathroom because the paint is falling off the wall he'll be like, 'is that really necessary?'"
Owen also revisited his 2022 appearance on The Masked Singer, where he performed as "Doughnuts" and reached episode six. His daughter Emily, 18, cringed watching the "embarrassing" performance back. "What made me do it? I guess the money!" Owen said. "Now I've done it I'm actually quite proud of it." Watching a clip, he added, "Wow I've got a fat head, I look like a doughnut there! I've lost about three stone since then."
His daughter Jessica, 16, offered her own verdict: "He did decent. He was definitely the entertainment... He did lots of questionable singing, I was quite glad he was voted out!"
Meet The Owens is a six-part docuseries produced by Whisper, following a year in the life of Owen, Louise and their four children, Gemma, James, Emily and Jessica, as they juggle the racing business with a chaotic home life. Jessica dreams of becoming an Olympic showjumping champion, Emily is trying to become the first Owen to attend university, and James is considering joining the family business.
All six episodes of Meet The Owens will stream exclusively on Prime Video from August 28, 2026.
