Rebecca Jane, the reality TV star sent scandalous messages by Michael Owen last year, has spoken for the first time about her relationship with the ex-England ace.
The Mirror exclusively revealed details of Owen’s messages to the former Big Brother housemate including a string of explicit comments. He told Jane to send him 20 topless pictures, saying he would “judge” them and suggested she “leave nothing to the imagination” as well as suggesting they meet up at the races.
The 37-year-old has now told The Sun that Owen, whose daughter Gemma is set to enter the Love Island villa, claimed “his marriage was over” and “fed her a load of rubbish” during their six-week period of messaging.
She said: “The story that Michael span me was that they were not really married and it was a sham. He said it was a marriage of convenience for the sake of appearances and to keep their racehorse business going.
“He told me his marriage was over, it was all a big façade and he wasn’t really married any more. I should have perhaps investigated his situation a bit more and been more cautious — but I took him at face value.
“He fed me a load of rubbish over a six-week period when I was in communication with him and he wanted to meet me. But it should be remembered that I actually turned him down — I turned him down quite a bit and didn’t meet him.”
Owen began following Rebecca on Twitter on March 18. She was on Big Brother in 2017, used to run a lovecheat detective agency, and is a regular guest on ITV show This Morning.
The pair exchanged messages and a pal said Rebecca, who has a law degree and is a trainee solicitor, was thrilled to be contacted by a childhood hero.
But the chat quickly turned sexual, particularly during April. On one trip away from home he asked Rebecca for more pictures, saying: “Come on then, fire them through. It’s a long boring trip to London so I need something to do... leave nothing to the imagination.
"And I’ll advise on the suitability of them for social media – hopefully none of them are suitable.”
After Rebecca obliged, he replied: “Tremendous by the way.”
Pleading for more, he added: “Surely you’ve got pics saved up. I thought I was going to be judging dozens?”
After another snap, he said: “Well you went straight in there with a pic of your t**s so there’s no point taking a back step now. Hmmm. Not bad. Great t**s. Definitely a no-go for social media. How about send me about 20? That’d be good.”
In another chat, Rebecca sent a photo of her in the bath – after he told her he was sitting in the lounge with his family. Owen got married to childhood sweetheart Louise Bonsall in June 2005 – with pics splashed in Hello! magazine.
He often posts social media pictures of his wife and family. In his autobiography, he revealed he was “staring into an abyss called divorce” in 2014 as he struggled to come to terms with his life after retiring from football.
But in his book Reboot – My Life, My Time he said he was a “different person” after he and Louise had marriage counselling.
He said in 2019: “Now that my life-changing liaison with the idea of splitting up with Louise and the family in 2014 has passed, I’m pretty sure everyone who knows me will say that I’m now a completely different person – in the best possible way."
Michael Owen has been approached for comment.
