{"id":3445,"date":"2026-07-03T11:30:00","date_gmt":"2026-07-03T15:30:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.songfacts.com\/articles\/?p=3445"},"modified":"2026-07-03T10:03:41","modified_gmt":"2026-07-03T14:03:41","slug":"the-incident-that-gave-david-bowies-eyes-their-distinct-look","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.songfacts.com\/articles\/the-incident-that-gave-david-bowies-eyes-their-distinct-look\/","title":{"rendered":"The Incident That Gave David Bowie\u2019s Eyes Their Distinct Look"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

David Bowie<\/a> wasn’t just known for his music. He adopted multiple stage personas over the years, each with their own distinct look\u2014but that wasn’t the only notable thing about his appearance. He was also known for his strikingly different-colored eyes, one blue, one black.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

What Gave Bowie\u2019s Eyes That Look?<\/h3>\n\n\n\n

The cause of Bowie’s different-colored eyes has often been mistaken for heterochromia, in which the irises are two different colors. It’s a very rare hereditary condition, although it is more common in animals, and Bowie did not have it. Instead, his condition was caused by damage to his left eye.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

While at school at Bromley Technical College in 1962, Bowie got into a fight with his friend George Underwood<\/a> over a girl when both men were just teenagers.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cI was sensible and managed a date with her,” Underwood told The Telegraph<\/em> in 2019<\/a>. “David phoned me on the day and said she had told him she didn\u2019t want to meet me because she wanted to go out with him.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Underwood punched Bowie in his left eye, causing significant damage\u2014Bowie had a tear in the iris\u2019s sphincter muscle. As a result, he was hospitalized for four months, during which he underwent multiple operations. He was left with a condition called anisocoria, a condition where the pupils are different sizes. In Bowie’s case, his left eye was permanently dilated, creating the illusion that his eyes were two different colors. He also struggled with depth perception in that eye.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cIt wasn\u2019t a very hard punch but obviously caught me at a rather odd angle,” Bowie later told biographer Mark Spitz<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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