‘Queer Eye’ Star Jonathan Van Ness Finally Responds To Explosive Rolling Stone Report Claiming They Have “Rage Issues”

After an explosive Rolling Stone report came after the cast of Queer Eye in March, Jonathan Van Ness is opening up.

Van Ness, who has served as the Netflix reality show reboot’s hairstylist since its 2018 debut and uses they/he/she pronouns, appeared on Wednesday’s installment of Jessie and Lennie Ware’s Table Manners podcast, where they noted that the article was written in March, “but our whole Queer Eye family had first learned about this article in December,” per The Hollywood Reporter.

“I went from this bankruptcy to like, ‘Oh, there’s, like, someone who’s going to write an investigative takedown, exposé piece about you that isn’t really based in reality, but can certainly have a lot of things taken out of context to make you look as bad as possible. So, that could drop any day now. Just so you know,'” they recalled. “So from January to March, I was just walking on eggshells being like, ‘When is this going to happen?’ And then it did finally happen.”

As noted by THR, Van Ness’ haircare company, JVN, was sold by its parent company in December.

Among the descriptors dropped in the March 2024 exposé about Van Ness were that they’re a “monster,” “demeaning,” and emotionally “abusive,” as well as claims that they have “rage issues.” A production source had called them “a yeller.”

As for how Van Ness felt, they explained, “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.'”

They credited their family, husband, and team for being “so supportive,” but Van Ness admitted they “didn’t even get on social media or look at my phone for like three weeks,” highlighting that “anytime I tried to dip my toe in, I would immediately see something that was so intensely hurtful.”

“I think people forget no matter how famous you are, you’re still a person,” they shared, eventually highlighting how the article arrived “at an incredibly vulnerable time” for their haircare company and “whole career.”

“Even though I do believe that that article was overwhelmingly untrue and done in bad faith, there have obviously been times… through my career where you’re like stressed out, or I may have been elbow-deep in highlights and was like, ‘No I can’t talk about that right now,'” they conceded. “I know that there was times where I could have been better.”

Van Ness noted that they began production on Season 9 shortly after, which they described as “so intense.”

While Van Ness, Karamo Brown, Antoni Porowski, and Tan France are returning for the show’s next installment, Bobby Berk revealed in November 2023 that Season 8 of Queer Eye — which was released in January — would be his last.

The Fab Five will be rounded out by HGTV’s Jeremiah Brent, who was announced as Berk’s replacement in February. France, who was accused — along with “alleged support from Porowski” — of having “campaigned” for Brent to take over for Berk, took to Instagram in March to fire back at the allegation. Meanwhile Porowski is also hosting a new Nat Geo show titled No Taste Like Home with Antoni Porowski.

Queer Eye Seasons 1-8 are streaming on Netflix.