Queer Eye Season 5: Meet Tan France’s Husband Rob France

Queer Eye wouldn’t be the same without its resident style guru Tan France. Tan is married and judging by his impeccable taste in clothing, we can imagine he has just as good a taste in partners. He and his husband, Rob France, have been married over 10 years.

Season 5 of the show brought with it 10 new heroes in need of makeovers. Queer Eye season 5 featured many heroes who were struggling business owners. Bobby Berk and Tan called upon their extensive business experience in order to help out heroes such as Rahanna, Marcos and Nate. However, it was clear to see that it hasn’t all been plain sailing for Tan or Bobby in business. Tan reveals in his memoir, Naturally Tan, that he even considered driving off a bridge while trying to juggle three companies. Tan said that he called his husband, Rob, and asked him to tell him not to do it.

It’s clear that Rob has been a support system for Tan. Both Tan and his husband are ambitious. The Queer Eye star managed to retire at the age of 33 while Rob is a successful artist as well as a pediatric nurse. Rob’s artwork can be perused over via his Instagram profile, @robfranceillustration, where he has around 100,000 followers. Queer Eye fans have Rob to thank for Tan becoming a part of the show and a member of The Fab Five. Speaking to The Guardian, Tan said when he was offered the Netflix job, Rob said, “My husband said, ‘You’ve been moaning for years and years that you have no gay friends. There’s going to be a room of gay men and you’re the most sociable person I know: just go.‘”.

Both Tan and Rob share similarities, such as growing up in religious families. Some could assume that Tan being Muslim and Rob, a former Mormon, they’d encounter some difficulties as a couple. But speaking to The New York Post, Tan explained how this actually brought the couple together, “It made it easier to date somebody who had similarities to me. I don’t drink alcohol, I don’t smoke. We practice some of our religions’ practices. We don’t practice them all. We practice what works for us.” By the looks of both of their IG pages, the couple, who have been married over a decade, are still madly in love.

One of Tan’s lines of business actually could have been something to do with how he met Rob. As reported by The Guardian, “A visit to Salt Lake City led to a meeting with the owner of a Mormon modesty clothing manufacturer, who offered him a regional manager job there… he saw a gap in the market for a young, fashionable clothing range that met Mormon guidelines on modesty.”  Tan’s women’s swimwear brand, Kingdom & State, reflects this modest style. Then, during a work trip in 2008, he met possibly one of the most interesting people going, Rob. His family ran a cowboy ranch in Wyoming, he worked as a pediatric nurse and is also a self-taught illustrator. Rob writes on his website, “I specialize in figure illustrations and the occasional abstract portrait.“

Tan often keeps details of his personal life private during the Netflix show. But during Queer Eye season 2 episode 2, Tan revealed a little about his engagement to Rob, “There wasn’t an actual proposal. It was just a case of ‘you know we’re going to get married one day, right?’, ‘yeah of course we are’. We had just agreed that it was going to happen one day and then we arranged the date. I’m not a romantic.” Bobby joked, “You have to have feelings to be romantic.” While Tan doesn’t come off particularly emotional on-screen, admitting that he can’t cry on camera, he is extremely gushing when it comes to his husband and from many of Rob’s IG posts, it looks like the feeling is mutual.

It’s safe to say that Tan and Rob are an inspiring couple. They met online in 2008, made long-distance work, stayed together through extreme stress of starting their own businesses and are enjoying marital bliss today. Rob and Tan have been married now for over 10 years, so it’s safe to say they’re most likely soul mates. The pair live together in Salt Lake City, Utah, and in terms of the future, as reported by The York Press, Tan hopes to have six children with his husband via a surrogate.

Source: The New York Post, The Guardian, The York Press

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