Olivia Bowen has revealed her four-year-old son nearly lost an eye following an accident at forest school.
Speaking to The Sun, she recalled the frightening ordeal involving her son Abel, who needed surgery.
He has since recovered with 20/20 vision. But the former Love Island star described the incident as the scariest moment of her life.
The 32-year-old recalled arriving to find him wearing an eye patch, saying: “There was blood everywhere”.
Olivia Bowen describes son’s eye surgery
At first, the family could not tell how far the stick had gone into his eye. They did not know whether it had touched his eyeball or remained lodged there. Abel would not let them open his eye to check.
The injury had sliced his tear duct. He underwent surgery to repair it and had a stent fitted to help drainage during his recovery.
For Olivia, the experience changed how she thought about eyesight. She said: “It’s something we take for granted every single day”.
She explained that her children’s schooling, including learning to read, brought home just how important vision is.
Olivia and her husband, Alex Bowen, 35, also share daughter Siena Grace, who is 14 months old. The couple lives in Essex.
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Olivia weighs up family move to Spain
Separately, Olivia has been considering whether a different lifestyle abroad would suit the family.
Last month, she used Instagram Stories to explain why a permanent move to Spain still felt uncertain.
She said the couple had discussed living abroad for a couple of years. More recently, those conversations had become more frequent.
With Abel due to start school this year, she had also been thinking about homeschooling.
However, Olivia questioned whether moving was what she wanted, or an attempt to escape worries about the world. She asked parents living in Marbella and surrounding villages to share their experiences.
After receiving messages, she thanked followers for their advice and outlined the practical work ahead. There were areas to explore, alongside research into visas and schools.
As Olivia put it, “there’s lots of research to be done”.
In a follow-up post, Olivia said they would spend as much time in Spain as possible this year. That would help them decide whether making it their main base was right for them.
The plan she described involved keeping a smaller home in the UK to return to when they wanted.
She and Alex moved into their current Essex home in 2024, after ten months of building and renovation work.
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