Love Island’s Gemma Owen used to do a surprising chore for Jacques O’Neill when they were dating

GEMMA OWEN proved how down to earth she was when she was dating ex Jacques O’Neill by mowing his mum’s lawn.

The 19-year-old daughter of football legend Micheal, 42, dated the rugby league player, 23, dated for eight months, but broke up “a year and a half ago”.

Recalling her first meeting with the stunning bikini designer Jacques’ mum Janet, 50, said: “I was gobsmacked and I was upset with my son.

I’d asked him to mow the lawn and I  arrived home and they were in the garden and he was getting her to cut the grass. She was laughing her head off doing it, she didn’t know what to do.

“She wouldn't have had done that before in her life and he had her outside gardening.

But she was so down-to-earth, she comes from a well to do back ground, miles away from me and Jacques, and we really got on.

“She would come and stay at weekend and Jacques would go to family barbecues.”

Opening up about their relationship for the first time Jacques said: “We started dating after I slid into her DMs on Instagram and we had our first date in a park, we met for a picnic.

“We didn’t end on the best terms, we were fighting a lot, but we were civil. I met Gemma’s dad Micheal a few times, he was a decent guy.

He was really good to me and took me in very well. After I’d had a game, I’d go straight to Gemma’s and we’d go for a drink together. He took me in.”

Elsewhere in his tell-all interview, Jacques revealed that he felt so low after Googling himself when he quit the villa that he woke up a producer for a cuddle.

The rugby professional managed to bypass show bosses bans on him having access to the internet after he decided to walk from the show.

He was put in a separate apartment with two producers and a security guard and denied his phone.

However Jacques has now revealed to The Sun that he managed to get onto the internet via the television in the apartment when his minders went to bed.

But Goggling himself left him feeling upset.

He said: “I just literally just wanted to be by myself. 

“They went to bed and I stayed off watching TV and there was a fire stick there and I thought I’ll just search my name. 

“And I wish I didn’t because the way I felt googling my name and seeing everyone hating me I didn’t know what to do with myself.

“I didn’t sleep that night I just stayed awake, because I was so scared of going out that villa and going home and even facing people in the street.”

He added: “It rocked me. It was really scary. 

“I was up till six in the morning, but in the end I had to knock on one of the producers’ doors and just have a cuddle from them, because I just felt awful about myself, and I just wanted someone to tell me it was going to be OK. 

“I just felt like it was all negative and everyone hated me.

“I didn’t have suicidal thoughts but I did want to go into hiding for a bit because I was scared of people seeing me. 

“I have minutes and hours when I feel down and there is nothing for me.”