The Untold Truth Of Karamo Brown

Karamo Brown is the resident culture expert on Netflix's mega-hit Queer Eye revival, always managing to find common ground no matter what the situation. His viewpoint is so valuable, in fact, that early 2019 saw him launching his very own advice-giving podcast. But surely nobody could have it so together all the time, right? Was Brown always this secure with himself, or was he ever plagued by doubts like the rest of us?

It's impossible to imagine the current iteration of Queer Eye existing without its so-called culture expert, but there's been confusion since the show's debut about what Brown's title actually means in practice. However, the mysterious moniker is effortlessly embodied by Brown himself who, with the swish of a satin bomber jacket and the glint of his perfect, impeccably white smile, breezes into the lives of contestants and viewers alike as though he's been there forever.

Still, nobody's life is perfect, never mind someone who found out he was a father when a good portion of his child's life had already passed, who struggled with drugs, and who even considered ending it all at one point. This is the untold truth of Karamo Brown.

Post-Real World was a dark time for Karamo Brown, but something positive did come out of the experience: He met his son. Jason Brown was actually watching his father on television and, two years after the show aired, made himself known when papers appeared demanding late child support payments. As the elder Brown explained to Advocate, the timing wasn't great. "At first, I thought I was on the MTV show Punk'd," he admitted, referring to the Ashton Kutcher-fronted celebrity prank show.

The Texas attorney general's office confirmed the child was his. If the mother, who moved away after falling pregnant at 15, hadn't applied for state benefits, the Queer Eye star may have never discovered the truth. After flying back to Texas, where he's originally from, to meet his son, the two quickly bonded and Brown actually obtained custody of Jason that same year, in 2007. His own family, thankfully, was on board. "Every single person was over-the-moon elated. At the time, there seemed no possible way I was having a child ... And being a boy, I think everyone wanted for me to carry on the name," he recalled.

In 2019, Karamo Brown released his memoir, Karamo: My Story of Embracing Purpose, Healing, and Hope, in which he discusses his past problems with drugs and all things Queer Eye, among other topics. Speaking at the L.A. Times' Festival of Books, the publication noted Brown told the audience, "If it's hysterical, it's historical." 

Espousing his own particular brand of self-help, Brown encouraged the assembled crowd, saying, "Every single one of you is perfectly designed. ... And if you are on a journey to change something about you because you want to, understand that it's part of the perfect design as well." He continued, "You have the ability to ask for help so you could create the life you want."  

Out cultural commentator Tre'vell Anderson credited Brown with providing an insight into a life experience a whole section of society wouldn't be aware of otherwise, describing the book as "a study of how to survive in America told through the story of someone Black, queer, and visible." 

Karamo Brown isn't one to mince words, whether he's campaigning for tighter gun laws or educating a white police officer about the Black Lives Matter movement. In his memoir, Brown noted he will never get used to being referred to as the N-word, even by other black people. Recalling an incident, he wrote in his memoir (via Out), "I immediately recoiled, hurt and disgusted. ... I also sensed that if I didn't respond I wasn't 'black' enough... It was a dagger into me every single time I heard that word." Referencing a shirt he wore to the premiere of Unsolved: The Murders Of Tupac And The Notorious B.I.G., he advised, "We are being conditioned by our own culture that it's okay to call one another this derogatory term, as long as nobody else calls us that."

Brown doubled-down on his comments on the Keep It podcast, explaining that he "[understands] the pain that word" causes. Although he used to use it when he was young, Brown got uncomfortable when people outside his race started to, too. He surmised, "You teach people how to treat you."

Out of everybody in the all-new Fab Five, Karamo Brown has taken the most flak for his role as the so-called "culture expert." Speaking to House Beautiful, Brown acknowledged it was a confusing title, especially in the beginning. "People didn't really understand what it was. When they had 'Grooming' and 'Fashion' experts, they understood what that meant," he said.  

If you're still confused about what precisely his role is, Brown is happy to elaborate, explaining his job is "to fix the inside — fix the heart and mind." He went on, "It's great when you have a transformation on the outside, but if you don't fix what's on the inside, then the transformation on the outside will never last." Furthermore, he believes Queer Eye is in a unique position to target transformation from the outside in. "It shows that you can fix the outside, but it's also about focusing on what got you to that place. As we've gone through the seasons, people have started to identify with that more, versus being confused by the title," he said.

Nobody else could fill Karamo Brown's shoes on Queer Eye. His unique viewpoint disarms participants at every turn, particularly during difficult conversations. As Brown explained to Vanity Fair, it all came about because of, well, him. "In the original casting for my category, I would say 95% of the men owned art galleries or were artists or painters of some sort. Because they wanted the culture role to be what it originally was — a Broadway star. When we got down to the end, it was myself against someone who was the owner of an art gallery and also had a Broadway show coming out," he explained.

Nobody does culture like Karamo, and, as he revealed, that's what eventually sealed the deal. "I was very clear: I have a background as a social worker. Being able to get to the emotional core is the only way to sustain change. ... I can introduce you to an art gallery all day long, but that's not going to help you to figure out why you haven't cleaned your house, changed your hair, changed your diet... any of those things, in 20 years," he said.

The reality star is very exact when it comes to language. As a result, Karamo Brown prefers the term "letting people in" to "coming out." He wrote in his book, as shared by GQ, "We don't need to let everyone into every part of our lives. It doesn't mean that we're ashamed of who we are," noting, "The power of me loving and accepting myself is not determined by someone else's opinion of me."

As he explained to GQ, there are several different sides to his personality and not all of them are necessarily up for public consumption. "When I'm with family, when I'm at work, I'm very proud of all parts of my life, but there are people on Queer Eye I don't speak with about my relationship as a father. I don't tell them what I say with my kids. Does that mean they don't know I'm a father? They might or might not, but they're not part of my life. There are things we don't have to talk about," he reasoned.

Unsurprisingly, for a show that marketed its second season with a tongue-in-cheek reference to the emotional reaction to its first, Queer Eye is proud of its ability to elicit tears. And nobody is prouder of that fact than Karamo Brown who, to be fair, is usually the one bringing participants to the emotional edge. As he revealed to Nylon, this caused friction with the show's creator. "After the second episode, [he] literally came in the trailer and said, 'Karamo, enough with trying to make people cry.' And I was like, 'No, I will not.' ... Every day I was like, 'My job is to figure out how I can make this guy cry.' And not in a sadistic way, but to get him to reach a breakthrough."   

The culture expert always envisioned himself as the emotional rock of the show. He even told The Guardian, "Making people cry is my favorite thing to do. That was my one goal during Queer Eye. I understand the importance of having a cathartic moment."