Queer Eye star Bobby Berk has revealed how being involved in the Netflix show has impacted his mental health.
Bobby serves as Queer Eye’s resident design expert, and has won praise from viewers for his ability to essentially reinvent an entire property in a matter of days.
Ahead of the new series’ debut, he spoke to Metro about how the show has affected him, admitting he and his co-stars get very involved with the people they’re making over in each episode.
“I know how this show has been hard on all of our mental health,” he explained. “We really do get very emotionally involved with our heroes and especially seasons one and two, I just didn’t know how to deal with it.
“I would just go home and cry because it just drains you, it takes a lot out, giving so much so quickly because you really just have to let it all out there.”
In the last three series, the Fab Five and those they’re helping out have been seen discussing issues like addiction, mental health and being LGBTQ in a religious community, which Bobby shared his own experiences with in the first series.
He added: “It takes a lot out of us. It really is real. Sometimes too real.”
The fourth series of Queer Eye makes its debut on Friday, with special episodes filmed in Japan also coming later this year.
Since the Queer Eye revival debuted in 2018, the show has won three Emmys, and made celebrities of its new Fab Five, who recently made cameos in Taylor Swift’s You Need To Calm Down music video, alongside a host of other stars, most of whom are from the LGBTQ community.
Useful websites and helplines:
- Mind, open Monday to Friday, 9am-6pm on 0300 123 3393
- Samaritans offers a listening service which is open 24 hours a day, on 116 123 (UK and ROI - this number is FREE to call and will not appear on your phone bill.)
- The Mix is a free support service for people under 25. Call 0808 808 4994 or email: help@themix.org.uk
- Rethink Mental Illness offers practical help through its advice line which can be reached on 0300 5000 927 (open Monday to Friday 10am-4pm). More info can be found on www.rethink.org.