Tan France has revealed that the Duchess of Sussex sent him a “personal” gift after he appeared on With Love, Meghan docuseries on Netflix. The British TV personality, who hosts Queer Eye on the streamer, made an appearance in the second season of the lifestyle show, with the pair bonding over parenthood and Britain, with Meghan spending time there before and during the early years of her marriage with Prince Harry. “I absolutely loved it, she couldn’t have been kinder,” Tan told HELLO!
Tan, 42, shared that filming took place over one day “but Meghan had obviously spent some time in the UK and I’m from the UK, so we had stuff in common; we’re both moms and we just talked about our kids, it was that easy.” When asked if he had been sent one of her famous As Ever package, which the Duchess has been sending out to celebrity pals, Tan added: “No, but she did send me something else and I’m not going to say what, but she sent me something much more personal, and it was lovely.”
The With Love series “reimagines the genre of lifestyle programming, blending practical how-to’s and candid conversation with friends, new and old”. The episodes see Meghan share “personal tips and tricks, embracing playfulness over perfection and highlights how easy it can be to create beauty, even in the unexpected.”
Tan’s Queer Eye co-star Antoni Porowski previously told HELLO! that he, Karamo Brown, Jonathan Van Ness, and Jeremiah Brent were in the dark over Tan’s hangout with the Duchess, and another person who was also in the dark was Tan’s beloved mom, a British Pakistani who Tan has praised for shaping his interest in fashion, including teaching him how to sew. “My mum doesn’t watch western television, so other than an interview on the BBC, she’s never seen any of my shows and so I don’t think she cared about With Love, Meghan!” laughed Tan.
The father-of-two and stylist has now collaborated with Lilly, the makers of the GLP-1 Zepbound, for a new campaign that aims to “unthread bias” and stigma around obesity. “This campaign helps reframe how we talk about obesity and replaces that bias with openness and understanding,” said Tan, telling HELLO! that “helping people feel the way they want to feel through openness and kindness” has always been his goal on Queer Eye as well.
Lilly’s Changing the Thread Collection will be on display in New York City. Each item of clothing, from scrubs to swimsuits, has been ’embroidered with stories from people living with obesity” with the aim to “spark a cultural shift that treats obesity as a chronic disease deserving of understanding and treatment”.
HELLO! editors and experts have written extensively about the pros and the cons of GLP-1s, and the dangers of celebrities promoting weight-loss medications that have very few studies on the long-term effects, especially when used off-label. But Dr Clare Lee, an obesity expert, who is working alongside Tan said: “There are discussions in the field about what are the best metrics to define and track obesity, but we’re talking about excess adiposity, or excess fat. There’s no doubt that obesity is a chronic disease. When you have excess fat on your body that is causing problems, and therefore you do need long term management, Zepbound can be a tool for that.”
For Tan, so much of his career has been about encouraging self-expression and he says that it is a “motivator” to know that there are so many people who are desperate to hide their bodies because of a stigma.
“They want something big or something black, a heavy material and something that doesn’t cling to the body, all to hide away,” he said. “I’ve tried for many years to make it clear that those choices are doing the opposite of what you think they are doing, and it’s not going to make you feel the way you want to feel.”
© NETFLIXAs for a key piece of advice for anyone looking to rediscover their style? Stop looking at the trends, says Tan. “What I want people to do is wear something that makes them feel good so that they’re communicating whatever they want to communicate to the world. Maybe it’s youthful, playful, silly, chic, fierce, respected, or studious.”
“The kids are talking about skinny jeans being over but if that skinny jean makes you feel good, put that jean on!
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