In March, Rolling Stone published a report chronicling the tensions between cast and crew members on the Netflix series Queer Eye. The article included interviews with members of the Queer Eye production team, who accused star cast member Jonathan Van Ness of being difficult to work with, labeling them “emotionally abusive,” “a nightmare,” and a “monster.” The sources claimed that Van Ness had “intense and scary” outbursts, lashing out “at least once a day” on set.
Now, Van Ness is addressing the allegations for the first time. Appearing on the Table Manners podcast, they said they felt much of what was reported by Rolling Stone was “taken out of context” and that the article wasn’t “really based in reality.” They added, “I think a lot of people were, like, looking for a reason to hate me or, like, looking for a reason to be like, ‘See, I always knew that they were a fake cunt and this is the proof.’”
Van Ness said the article was “overwhelmingly untrue and done in bad faith,” but “there have obviously been times throughout my career where you’re stressed out, or I may have been elbow-deep in highlights and was like, ‘No, I can’t talk about that right now.” They went on, “I know that there were times where I could have been better. But I think also being a survivor of abuse and talking about everything that I’ve talked about, I internalized it so badly. I was like, ‘Oh my God, is it true? Like, am I really this bad person?’”
The TV personality and hairstylist said that following the publication of the article, they had to take a break from social media to get away from the negative feedback and comments from people online. The whole experience “forced me to really learn to slow down, disengage, and really love myself,” they said.
