'Bachelor' star Joey Graziadei explains that his 'yellow eyes' are due to Gilbert syndrome
"The Bachelor" star Joey Graziadei took to Instagram to reassure fans who were concerned about the appearance of his eyes.
The 28-year-old television personality, who is the lead of the reality dating show's current season, revealed in a video that his "yellow eyes" are caused by Gilbert syndrome.
"I wanted to jump on here really quick and talk about something that I'm seeing a lot of comments about, which is Joey's yellow eyes," Graziadei said at the beginning of the clip he shared on Thursday.
‘THE BACHELOR’ JOEY GRAZIADEI'S ‘BIG RED FLAG’ IS SOMEONE ‘TOO SELF-CENTERED’
He continued, "To give some context on that, I have to go all the way back to when I was in high school. I was sick for about a week and a half, and my mom thought it would be a good idea to go to the doctor."
"When I went to the doctor. I had bloodwork done, and the bloodwork showed that my bilirubin count was very high. That means that there could be something that was wrong with my liver."
Bilirubin is the yellow pigment in bile, according to the Cleveland Clinic.
"You might have high bilirubin levels if your liver is having trouble processing bilirubin into bile, or if your bile ducts are blocked," the medical center states on its website. "High bilirubin may indicate liver or biliary disease."
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"So we went, and I got a liver ultrasound," Graziadei recalled. "I went to other doctors. They found out that there was nothing that was necessarily wrong, like hepatitis."
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However, Graziadei said that he had been diagnosed with Gilbert syndrome.
According to the Mayo Clinic, Gilbert syndrome is a "common, harmless liver condition in which the liver doesn't properly process bilirubin." The condition is usually genetic and requires no treatment. Gilbert syndrome presents as "occasional yellowish tinge of the skin and the whites of the eyes as a result of slightly higher levels of bilirubin in the blood."
"At the end of the day, I am told that I am healthy," Graziadei explained. "It's something that does affect the whites of my eyes and makes it have those jaundice levels, which is why they look a little bit more yellow."
He continued, "It's something I want to pay attention to more going into this year. I want to get my health right and make sure that I'm all good. But I at least wanted to give some background and let you know that, to my knowledge, I am healthy."
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"It's just something that I have to pay attention to drinking more fluids. It is worse when I have stress or lack of sleep, which happens on a TV show," he said with a smile. "And I do appreciate everyone looking out for me and wondering if I'm okay. But to my knowledge, I'm okay as I can be, and I will continue to look at it. So thank you very much."
The Pennsylvania native made his debut in "The Bachelor" franchise as a contestant in the 20th season of "The Bachelorette" starring Charity Lawson. Graziadei made it to the final two, but Lawson chose fellow competitor Dotun Olubeko as the winner.
During "The Bachelorette" 20th season finale in August 2023, Graziadei was named the next star of "The Bachelor."
The 28th season of "The Bachelor" airs Mondays at 8 p.m. ET on ABC.