Queer Eye star Jonathan Van Ness talks about HIV, and gets even more ‘curious’ in new book Love That Story
- The reality-TV star talks about living with HIV, queer history, body shaming and more in a second memoir, Love That Story
- Van Ness also writes about how transgender, nonbinary and queer people have been erased throughout history
Jonathan Van Ness is always curious – their podcast and Netflix series Getting Curious surely gives that away. Now book lovers will get curious too.
In their second book, Love That Story: Observations From a Gorgeously Queer Life, Van Ness invites readers along for a journey across 11 educational chapters involving queer history, body shaming and impostor syndrome.
Fans of Van Ness’ 2019 memoir Over the Top can expect fewer gut-wrenching stories (but a major trigger warning if you’ve lost a pet recently), more empowering resilience and the rewards that come from expanding your mind.
“Saying that you’re an HIV-positive survivor of sexual abuse and drug addiction, it’s a pretty big Band-Aid to rip off,” Van Ness, star of Queer Eye, says over a Zoom call. “Once I got that one ripped off, I was just like, ‘Oh, nothing’s going to feel that intense again, probably, knock on wood’.”
Think of this book as more of a peek inside their brain and why they think the way they do.
“I want to write what I’ve been learning about, what’s been driving me,” the energetic, ebullient Van Ness says. “I want to give insights into where I am, and why I am this way, and what I’ve learned to make me think this way.”