The Dallas, Georgia, native claimed ‘you
can’t fix ugly,’ but ater theQueer Eye
guys were done with him, Tom Jackson had
undergone a complete transformation.
He even got back together with his ex-wife
Abby Parr ater the Fab Five reunited them.
Now, Tom and Abby have made it official for
the second time, remarrying on March 27.SEASON ONE FAVOURITE TOM
GETS HIS HAPPILY EVER AFTERKaramo and Antoni
workshopped Tom
and Abby’s reunion
in season oneleave those and see how they’re received
and if people respond...
Antoni: here’s always fear when
you let a certain part of you go that
you’re not used to externalising and
having that conversation out loud.
When you hear yourself say [it] and
it’s out there, [it’s scary] – but it’s
usually only to the beneit of the
storytelling process, and it’s not
about us. he result is always positive.
An important theme on the show
is equality, and pay equality is a
hot topic in Hollywood right now.
How have you guys handled it?
Jonathan: Oh, we’ve never been
asked that question before! hat’s
pretty fun. We take the Friends cast
approach to it.
Bobby: Equal work, equal pay!
Tan: It’s not just with our cast, but we
believe everybody should be paid the same.
Karamo: You know, this being the year of the
woman, it’s really important because what’s
going to happen is we start to support and
uplift our women and make sure they’re
getting their equal rights and it’s going to
start to trickle down into other communities.
Antoni: It all starts in show business.
How have your families reacted to the
show and your new-found fame?
Jonathan:My mum is blowing my gay brain!
Even just this month, we were FaceTiming
and her skin looked amazing and my mum
has not worn make-up to work in decades- my stepdad passed away and my mum
has been struggling – but she’s now doing
self-care because of the show! She’s taking
care of herself all of a sudden. She sent
me a picture of this face mask I sent
her and it’s gone because she used it all!
She’s never done that.
Karamo: My relationship with my father
got worse after the show came out. We
never had a good relationship. He couldn’t
reconcile his religion with the fact that
his son is a proud gay man. Him hearing
about the success of the show has caused
him to lash out in very negative ways, but
what has been beautiful for me to realise
is his negativity doesn’t dull any of the
light around this positive experience,
how it’s helping the world and how I’ve
grown as a man.
Antoni: And look at your sons [ Jason and
Chris, pictured below] and how proud they
are of you.
Karamo: It’s important for people to see
there’s going to be hate in the world, but
it’s about how you respond to that hate.
hat’s what we try to teach on the show.
Respond to the world in a positive way.
Jonathan: hat reminds me, too, in terms
of masculinity and what it means to be
strong. Our fathers’ generation, especially
our grandparents’, what it meant to be strong
was to pull yourselves up by your boot straps,
don’t let anyone see your vulnerability, don’t
let anyone see you cry and that’s why a lot of
people in our grandparents’ generation were
ng alcoholics. It’s really important that
et people in and see our vulnerability.
t’s what’s actually strong and that’s the
gest shift in masculinity – it takes more
ngth to be what’s classiied as feminine
nitistobewhatpeopleexpectofyou
and her skin looked amazing and my mum peop
ragin
we le
hat
bigg
stren
thanthann itisstobewhatpeopleexpectofyou.
FAMILY
MATTERS
While Jonathan’s mother
has adopted his self-care
habits, proud papa Karamo
says ‘it’s really hard to
leave my sons’ when
he travels for the
show.Tom and
Abby tied
the knot
ater eloping
to TennesseeTRUE
LOVE
WINSWatch the second season of
Queer Eye on Netflix now!TEXT BY ALI CROMARTY WEDDING PHOTOGRAPHS BY TIFFANY AGGEN VIA TOM JACKSON/TWITTER