Queer Eye star Karamo Brown has revealed why he pulled out of doing press for the 10th and final season of the hit reality show alongside his co-stars Jonathan van Ness, Antoni Porowski and Tan France.
Brown, who served as the show’s culture and lifestyle expert, backed out of the Season 10 promotional tour in January, stating that he was “protect[ing his] mental health/peace from people… who seek to destroy it.”
The 45-year-old confirmed reports that his mom overheard his fellow cast members trash-talking him on set.
“I thought they were your friends,” Brown recalls his mother telling him with tears in her eyes.
Brown told People magazine that the show negatively impacted his mental health for years, and that the seemingly positive energy among the show’s main cast members—coined the Fab Five—was fabricated to maintain the show’s success.
The Netflix show, a reboot of the ‘90s hit Queer Eye for the Straight Guy, won 12 Emmys over its 10 seasons as the Fab Five helped everyday people transform their lives.
It cast Brown alongside Jonathan van Ness (grooming), Antoni Porowski (food and wine), Tan France (fashion) and Bobby Berk (interior design). Berk left the show after eight seasons amid rumors of a falling out with France and was replaced by Jeremiah Brent.
Brown said he felt like an outsider among the cast “from season one, week one.” That was exacerbated when a sexual harassment complaint was filed against him in the first few weeks of filming.
He says he and one of the Fab Five, who has declined to name, had a “fun and flirty” relationship during the show’s casting phase. When the sexual harassment claim was filed, he accused the unnamed co-star of being responsible, but later discovered it was an anonymous third party.
“It broke us,” he says of the group. “We all knew the divide between us.”
Brown also recalls being reprimanded by a staff member on the set who told him, “You are not a star. You are nothing. You will get replaced tomorrow.”
He admits he could have handled his time on the show differently.
Despite being sober for 12 years, Brown says he relapsed in 2018 during Season 3 of Queer Eye, admitting he “was depressed.”
“It felt shameful because I was teaching people that they could be better, but in my own life I was trapped,” he told People. “A drink would lead to weed, cocaine, pills. I wasn’t coping right, but I pretended like I was. I was so broken.”
Brown says he became sober again a year-and-a-half ago when a guest had a negative reaction to a substance they had taken at his home.
“Since that day, I’ve not had a single drink, cocktail—nothing,” he says.
Brown had previously decided to get sober in 2006, after learning that he had fathered a son, Jason, now 29, when he was served with court papers for back child support.
“The minute I saw [Jason], something in me healed,” says Brown. “I understood my purpose.”
Brown says he remains doubtful that the Queer Eye cast will ever reunite but says he wants them to know “I still love you.”
He says his sobriety has become even more important since learning that his son, Jason, is set to become a father in the fall.
“With this journey I’ve been on, I’m making sure that I’m healed not just for me, but also for them,” says the eager “grandzaddy.” “There’s now going to be two generations looking at me.”
