Life has changed in the blink of an eye for Tan France and his husband, Rob France, as they welcomed their first baby — a boy named Ismail! — in August 2021, but the Queer Eye star wouldn’t have it any other way.
“It’s more tough than anyone could have prepared me for,” the 38-year-old exclusively tells GRAZIA USA while talking about Alaska Airlines’ newest campaign, “The Care Coalition,” which features the reality star. “But it’s the most magical thing that you could ever experience in your entire life. It’s amazing, I love him so much. He is 7 months, he is now sleeping, thank God.”
He continues, “He is very much my son – he loves Bollywood music, and every time it comes on, he does a really fun jig to it because he gets really excited.”
Even though it can be stressful at times, France admits that they’re already looking into giving Ismail another sibling. “We’re exploring a second option. I don’t want anymore for myself, but I want him to have a sibling. I want him to have someone to play with,” he shares.
The tot is constantly impressing the fashion guru. “I always wanted to have a weird kid. I love weird kids who have just a quirk. I was a very weird kid. He does this thing where he’ll constantly go over the shoulder and scratch whatever it is that he is on,” he says. “He is always inquisitive about a surface I put him on, so constantly, every few seconds, he will turn and just scratch, ‘OK, I am happy with where I am. OK scratch still here.’ It’s so weird, but I love it so much.”
France is the first of the Fab Five to have a baby, and he admits that Antoni Porowski may be getting baby fever too.
“Ismail’s only ever met probably about six people in his short life, and Antoni and his partner were two of them,” France says. “They came to stay for a few days and they loved him. I am so excited. Antoni actually feels like he wants to have kids now that he has met my little boy.”
In the meantime, the U.K. native is partnering with Alaska Airlines to head The Care Coalition — and the collab was something that made total sense to him.
“The Care Coalition is a wonderful initiative. It’s cute, the campaign is really cute, however, the message behind it is what really sealed the decision to partner,” he says. “I think we are becoming more and more aware of how we are treated on airlines, especially in the last couple of years. We have seen more and more discomfort when it comes to traveling, and so it’s nice to know that Alaska Airlines wants to put out messaging that is important to them. They care about their people, not only the people that work for them, but for the people that are coming on board as passengers.”
“So much of what my brand is all about and what I was about as a human before I became a brand is making sure that people feel seen, heard and taken care of and that is what The Care Coalition is all about,” he adds.
