LIFE LESSONS
Tan France
One fifth of Queer Eye’s dream team, Tan France hosted Netflix’s (unjustly cancelled) Next in Fashion, and now has his own podcast: Tan France’s Queer Icons (available on Audible). “Before, I would have said [my icons were] the likes of RuPaul or Elton John,” he says. “However, after the podcast, I realised that the person that has impacted my life — all of our lives — is Dr Evelyn Hooker. She was the first person willing to do research to prove that we [gay men] are not insane… this woman changed the course of history for us.” Tan, 38, and his husband Rob live in Salt Lake City, Utah, and are expecting their first child.
I DON’T CHECK DMS ANY MORE. I HAVEN’T DONE FOR ALMOST TWO YEARS… I AM A QUEER, BROWN, MUSLIM IMMIGRANT IN THE US, WHICH MEANS THERE’S A LOT OF STUFF I DON’T NEED TO SEE,
A LOT OF OPINIONS I
DON’T NEED TO SEE TO PROTECT MYSELF.
But before then, I read as many DMs as I could. There was a queer Pakistani boy in a city called Lahore. He’d never seen a version of himself on TV, and at that point he was suicidal… I wasn’t raised in Pakistan, I was raised in the UK, but he understood that I understood his plight, and apparently it gave him hope that he could find a way to, either, come out in his own country, or move away and live a life he never thought was possible.
My childhood crush was Dolph Lundgren. I think that was the first time I thought, I need to climb that…
I was very feminine. I am very feminine; when I sit down, I always cross my legs. I wish I could tell 17,
18, 19-year-old me, actually, even 10-year-old me: “Keep your legs crossed. If they say something to you, tell them to go fuck themselves.”
The last thing I Googled… oh my God, it’s so lame. It’s going to seem so shallow, but it’s a Gucci boot. I already have the brown and the black version, and I found out there’s this [other] version.
I tried so hard not to be on Queer Eye. So hard at every turn to say, “It’s just not for me.” My husband was the one who convinced me.
We’re [my hubby and I] expecting our first child and it’s made me incredibly emotional. On Queer Eye, you’ve only ever seen me cry two times. My American counterparts literally cry every episode, whereas I’m very British, I have a stiff upper lip… [but] ever since we found out we’re having a baby, I’ve cried almost every day over random shit.
THE FIRST PERSON I CAME OUT TO WAS MY BEST FRIEND. I WAS TOO SCARED TO TELL HER VERBALLY; I’D WANTED TO TELL HER FOR WEEKS, BECAUSE I’D JUST MET MY FIRST BOYFRIEND AND STARTED DATING. SO, INSTEAD, I TEXTED HER ON MY NOKIA 6210, AND SHE WAS SO NICE ABOUT IT. SHE WAS, LIKE, “OH MY GOD, TELL ME MORE!”
Fuck Crocs! I don’t care that they made a comeback, they’re fucking hideous… That’s a fashion ‘don’t’ and then a ‘do’: make an effort.
It’s not a certain ‘thing’, but if you know you haven’t put thought into your clothes, you can’t expect other people to think you look nice.
My sherwani jacket was the first thing that I ever wore on a red carpet that showed my heritage. If it [my outfit] could speak, it would say, “It’s about time we saw one of me on the red carpet.” I’m sure I made every worst-dressed list because nobody understood it, and instead every white guy who wore a black tux made the best-dressed.
My most annoying habit is — Antoni Porowski, my lovely castmate and best friend will tell you — I can’t help but ask the most inappropriate personal questions… Somebody we know got a divorce, it was none of my business, and I couldn’t help but ask, “So, why did you get a divorce? Was it your fault, or was it the other person?”
I LIVE IN A PLACE CALLED SALT LAKE CITY, UTAH, WHICH IS THE LEAST SHOWBIZZY PLACE THAT YOU CAN POSSIBLY IMAGINE… I AM VERY MUCH THE ‘OLD TAN’ THAT EVERYBODY KNEW, THAT’S HOW I KEEP MYSELF SANE.