Gemma Owen's brother James opens up about incurable eye condition

28 August 2026, 01:00 | Updated: 28 August 2026, 09:53

Gemma Owen’s brother, James Owen, has opened up about his incurable eye condition on their new Amazon Prime show, 'Meet the Owens'.

Former Love Island star Gemma Owen, has opened up her life to viewers for a new docuseries, Meet the Owens, along with her dad Michael Owen, mum Louise, sisters Emily and Jessica, and brother James.

During the show, Gemma's brother James Owen opened up about living with Stargardt disease, a rare, inherited eye disorder that causes progressive loss of central vision, typically beginning in childhood or early adulthood.

Although there's no cure or approved treatment to reverse the degenerative disease at the moment, there are clinical trials for gene and drug therapies.

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What has James Owen said about his eye condition?

Speaking on Meet the Owens, James opened up about his eye condition, saying: "My eye condition is called Stargardt. I've had it since I was born, and obviously as you can imagine, it's been tough growing up. It's not good in the centre of the view, and it makes it hard for me to actually look straight.

"Quite often people think I'm being rude by not keeping eye contact. I'm actually looking at them in the clearest way I possibly can."

James's mother, Louise, then revealed that they first learned about his condition when he was eight, after a teacher noticed something was wrong.

She explained: "The teacher actually called me in and said, 'I think James is having a bit of an issue seeing the board'. After a significant amount of testing, we obviously discovered that it was Stargardt."

While James eye disease worsens, his family have continued to support him throughout the years.

In 2014, his dad, Michael Owen, ran the London Marathon to support Manchester Royal Eye Hospital and scientists from The University of Manchester in their mission to find new treatments for families with genetic eye disorders.

Meanwhile, Gemma became an ambassador for charity Fight for Sight in 2023. The charity work to fund world-class research that helps better understand, diagnose, prevent and treat vision loss.

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