Weekend with Tan France: ‘Being at home with the kids is my version of heaven’
The TV and fashion star on spending time with his children, how he’s more of a morning person and playing a gangster in Deli Boys
Tan France is British-American fashion designer, entrepreneur and television personality. He is best known as the fashion expert for the Emmy-winning Netflix makeover series Queer Eye. When he joined the cast in 2018, he became one of the first openly gay Muslim men on mainstream television. The show’s 10th and final season was released in 2026.
Born in Doncaster, France emigrated to the US in 2015. He lives in Salt Lake City, Utah, with his husband and two boys, aged five and three.
You’re in London producing The P Word at the Bush Theatre. What has your recent weekend in the UK been like?
I flew in from New York, went straight to my mum’s house and my mum, sister and a bunch of cousins all went to get chai and paratha. It was wicked. My family came from all over: Manchester, Bury, Doncaster. Then we got karak chai and gulab jamun for dessert. We hung out at my mum’s house for the rest of the evening. It was gorgeous — a proper desi weekend.
Are the weekends sacred time or for working?
My schedule’s all over the place. An entertainer doesn’t get to say: “I’m only working weekdays.” If I’m not shooting anything, I will almost always try and make sure I’m at home with the kids.
What does a typical Saturday look like?
I’m going to bore your readers, but I’m just a parent. We’ll have breakfast then go to the park. We’ll spend hours there because the weather’s usually nice where we live in America.
After the park?
I’ll build a fort with my kids at home, we’ll go outside and make potions and then we do a bed and bath time routine. And then I just hang out with my husband, make dinner and watch Golden Girls. It’s really boring, but I do the exact same thing on Sunday. I know that sounds lame, but it’s my version of heaven.
Eat out or stay in and cook?
I love to make salan aur roti. I make it almost every day.
What’s for breakfast?
My eldest really likes any kind of pancake or French toast situation. On the weekend I’ll do something that looks gorgeous.
Early riser or late sleeper?
Early riser, and I’m always in bed by 9.30pm latest, latest, latest. Preferably 8.30pm or nine o’clock. My kids wake me up usually by 5.30am. Most people in my life go to sleep after 1am, and I think, I don’t know how you function.
Given you currently live there, do you watch The Real Housewives of Salt Lake City?
I don’t, but Mary Cosby lives across the street from me. We live in a gated community where there’s only 18 houses and, somehow, she ended up right across the street.
We saw you return to Deli Boys for season two. Were you happy to be back?
I can’t tell you how much I loved season one, it was one of the greatest experiences of my adult life. So the fact that I got to do season two was wicked. The fact that I get to play a gangster, like a straight badass bitch is actually awesome. However, I will say, in season two, he goes “zen”. He doesn’t hit anyone this time, he doesn’t swear at anyone this time, which is hard for me. I really did love that about him. He’s a nice guy now.
Do you have any other exciting projects you’re working on at the moment?
I have a show on YouTube called Honorable Gays, my favourite series I’m doing right now. Me and two others, Rob Anderson and Eric Sedeño, debate things that happen online. They give their opinion on it and I’m the judge. It’s sassy and fun, and it’s wonderful.
