MICHAEL Owen will be competing in Soccer Aid as part of the England team.
He has been married to childhood sweetheart Louise Bonshall but has she has tended to stay away from the limelight.
Louise and Michael are childhood sweetheartsCredit: Getty – Contributor
Who is Michael Owen’s wife Louise Bonsall?
THE pair met in primary school in 1984 and became childhood sweethearts whilst at Hawarden High School.
The pair became engaged on Valentine’s Day in 2004 – which is also Louise’s birthday – when he proposed at their home.
Originally, they were set to marry at their home but decided against it due to regulations and had a small private ceremony before having a blessing at their home in front of lots of guests.
Louise has been described as “not your typical WAG” and has a passion in rescuing horses and their home has grounds where she can keep horses and Michael keeps cars.
She started riding at the age of seven when her and brother Andrew took lessons at the weekends before her passion grew into helping at the riding school and exercising friends horses.
What was the horse riding accident she had?
LOUISE suffered from horrible injuries in 2004 after an horse riding accident.
She was riding her horse Isobelle when it reared up and unseated her before the horse lost balance and landed on top of her.
Not long before, Michael had been out with her but he came running back after hearing her scream.
She spent three weeks in the Countess of Chester Hospital with a back broken in two places and her hip and pelvis in five places.
This was not the first major horse riding accident for Louise – at the age of 15 she was thrown from a horse and broke her femur – something which caused her to temporarily give up horses as a teenager.
The 2004 accident saw Louise change her focus and instead of training dressage horses, she moved into rehabilitating horses and became a patron of the Thoroughbred Rehabilitation Centre.
How many kids do the couple have?
THE pair have four children Gemma Rose, James Michael, Emily May and Jessica.
Eldest Gemma was born on May 1, 2003 and they were concerned she would not be able to give birth naturally again following the accident.
Apart from occasional pain in her back and hip, Louise recovered fully and James followed on February,6 2006.
Second daughter Emily May was born in October 2007 and Jessica in February 2010.
Source: Soccer - thesun.co.uk
