Michael Owen is proud' of his daughter Gemma Owen’s time on Love Island

Michael Owen is “proud” of his daughter Gemma Owen’s time on ‘Love Island’.

The retired football ace gushed about how well his 19-year-old daughter had done on the ITV2 dating competition after snagging second place with 23-year-old fishmonger, Luca Bish, who she has been with since the show’s second week, losing out to winners Davide Sanclimenti and Ekin-Su Cülcüloğlu.

After not appearing on the hotly-anticipated parent’s episode, the 42-year-old sporting legend tweeted on Monday (01.08.22) alongside a snap with Gemma: "She's done us proud."

Michael - who also has kids James, 16, Emily, 14, and Jessica, 12, with wife Louise - posted the same photo to his Instagram and admitted he needed his “special girl” to “hurry up home”.

During her stint in the villa, Gemma’s mum gave a message from her papa, saying: "Honestly, he is really proud of you, really proud."

While appearing on 'Sky Sports At the Races', Michael gave the reason why he was a no-show.

He said: "My wife will do that duty. I'll represent the horses and she'll represent the daughter.

"I don't know what I'll get from Box To Box. But I know what I'm going to get from my daughter.

"I've fathered her for 19 years so I'm pretty sure what I'm going to get from her."

When it was announced the international dressage rider was heading into the villa, the ex-Liverpool player coined it “every father’s worst nightmare”.

Michael said: "I have no doubts that she will make us all proud. It’s probably a father’s worst nightmare, but whatever she wants to do you’ve got to be supportive. I’ve heard a lot about it.

I think old, grumpy men like me will always have an opinion on it because I don’t watch it and you just hear snippets, but she assures me it’s not as bad as I think.

"It's quite a big thing and whatever she wants to do, you have to be supportive and I think I've given her a decent enough grounding to be respectful."