The Liverpool legend has confessed to crying uncontrollably over his son’s progressive eye disorder. James, who is 20 years old, suffers from an untreatable illness that has rendered him legally blind.
The 47-year-old has shared details about his son’s difficulties and his own grief in his new reality programme titled Meet the Owens. The series explores the private life of the Owen family, featuring Michael, his wife Louise and their four offspring, Gemma, James, Emily and Jessica.
James had hoped to follow in his father’s footsteps and become a professional footballer. However, he received a diagnosis of Stargardt disease when he was just eight.
Stargardt is an uncommon inherited eye disorder that causes progressive central vision loss. This typically emerges during childhood or teenage years and can result in blurry, hazy, or distorted sight.
James describes his condition as leaving his vision blurred and struggling to see clearly when looking directly ahead. The former England international has revealed how he was reduced to tears when learning his son had Stargardt.
In the new Amazon show, the Liverpool legend recalls that when James first got diagnosed, he remembers stopping in the car three or four times and just bursting out crying, wondering what his son’s life would be like. He wanted James to not feel sorry for himself and to have a positive outlook on life.
James himself describes his condition as almost like a ticking time bomb, noting that one day he might become completely blind. Michael’s son, who currently works in trading, is taking on additional duties at Michael’s stables, Manor House.
The former Liverpool striker said he hopes James can eventually take over the business. He described James’s ability to laugh at himself as the most endearing thing in his world, noting that little things like that bring them incredibly close together. Michael added that James has been more involved at Manor House, and ideally he comes and works for him as he would love that. He said it would be wonderful to watch it grow together and for James to have an influence on that.
Amazon Prime members can watch all six episodes of Michael Owen’s docuseries Meet the Owens, which follows a year in the life of the former England and Liverpool striker, for free when it launches on August 28.
Michael also spoke about the pain and guilt he feels about James being unable to pursue a football career. He explained that most people who play football have the dream of their son following in their footsteps, and that is what his own father had with him. He wanted James to be a footballer when he was really young but obviously that dream was dashed quite early.
He acknowledged that they made James, and he does not think he would be normal if he did not put himself in front of the mirror and think it was down to them that he has this eye condition. He said he did feel guilty for a little while and could still feel guilty now, but they look at the positives with James and the guilt sort of evaporates.
While Owen has faced considerable criticism for his controversial move to Liverpool’s historic rivals Manchester United in 2009, he acknowledged that playing for the Reds was the most joyful period of his existence. Owen scored 158 goals for Liverpool between 1996 and 2004, winning six major trophies, before departing for Real Madrid.
He stated that the happiest years of his life were when he was at Liverpool. He was playing well, scoring goals, and they won loads of trophies. He was the Michael Owen he likes to remember. Life was great. Then Real Madrid came in, generally regarded as the biggest team in the world. To see a different country, different team, different food, weather, language, he just thought he had to try that.