Jonathan Van Ness Speaks Out After Called a 'Monster' & a 'Nightmare' on Queer Eye Set in Exposé

In March, Rolling Stone published an exposé detailing the alleged drama going on behind the scenes of the Netflix series. Several production sources alleged Van Ness -- who identifies as non-binary and uses he/she/them pronouns -- had "rage issues" and was emotionally "abusive," calling the hairstylist a "monster" and a "nightmare" to work with. The crew members also claimed Van Ness would "yell" and lash out at others on set daily. Sources told Rolling Stone that Van Ness' alleged behavior contributed to the fallout between some of the show's cast, which possibly led to Bobby Berk's exit.

On Wednesday's episode of the Table Manners podcast, Van Ness, 37, broke their silence on claims made about them in the article, slamming the exposé as "overwhelmingly untrue" and claiming things were "taken out of context."

"There was this article that was written about Queer Eye and myself in March, but our whole Queer Eye family had first learned about this article in December," they told Table Manners podcast hosts Jessie and Lennie Ware. "So I went from [JVN Hair's] bankruptcy to then, 'Oh, there's somebody 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 from January to March, I was walking on eggshells being like, 'When is this going to happen?' And then it finally did happen," they added.

The reality star went on to recall their reaction to the claims made in the article, and what they ultimately learned about themselves.

"One thing it taught me was that I had been getting so much self-esteem from social and my job that I didn't really think that I did get so much self-esteem from it," Van Ness said.

"I think a lot of people were looking for a reason to hate me or looking for a reason to be like, 'See I always knew that they were a fake c--t,'" they continued.

"My family was so supportive, and my husband and my team," they added. "But I didn't even get on social media to look at my phone for like three weeks and anytime I tried to dip my toe in, I would immediately see something that was so intensely hurtful."'

Van Ness admitted that while they were in a "more comfortable place financially" than they were a few years ago, the article was released during an "incredibly vulnerable time," referencing what happened with their haircare line and their "whole career."

Amyris, the parent company of JVN Hair -- which launched in 2021 -- went bankrupt in August 2023, before Amyris sold JVN Hair to Windsong Global for $1.25 million in December.

"It just was really rough," they said, adding, "That article made me realize how much I'd been put in this position of being an expert or being perfect."

"I'm someone who champions self-acceptance, but sometimes self-acceptance looks like having to love yourself through incredibly hard times," they continued.

Van Ness added, "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 stressed out, or I might have been elbow-deep in highlights, and was like, 'No, I can't talk about that right now!' I know that there [were] times I could have been better.'"

The Getting Curious podcast host said they focused on self-love, noting that they "had to withdraw" and "be sad" to "get the language to be able to say what I just said."

"It just kind of paralyzed me," they said, before concluding, "It took me a while to learn how I wanted to talk about it, or if I wanted to talk about it."

Listen to the full podcast episode, below.