‘Queer Eye’ Fame Tan France Wants to Raise his Son With South Asian Muslim Traditions
- The reality TV star and his husband Rob welcomed their first baby, Ismail, via surrogate, on July 10.
Reality TV star and famed fashion icon Tan France wants his newborn son to carry his South Asian Muslim traditions forward. He and his husband, Rob, a freelance illustrator, welcomed their first baby via a surrogate on July 10.
Announcing the news, France, 38, wrote on his Instagram: “Give our son a warm welcome. Ismail France, born July 10th. He came 7 weeks early, so he’s been in the NICU for the past 3 weeks. But, today, we finally got to bring him home. We love him so, so much. Like, fully obsessed,” the “Queer Eye” star wrote. Adding that their “surrogate is doing so great, post labor,” Trance said the couple “couldn’t be more grateful for the greatest gift in our lives.”
Born Tanveer Wasim Safdar, France was raised in South Yorkshire, England, to Muslim Pakistani parents. In his memoir, “Naturally Tan,” France opens up on how he felt alienated due to his experience of growing up in a strict Muslim household. He wrote about homosexuality was viewed negatively at his home, and about “the lack of representation in media of his community and of LGBTQ South Asian people in particular,” as well as his personal experiences of physical and verbal racism in his childhood and adult life.
During a chat with PEOPLE Every Day podcast, Trance spoke about his expectations of fatherhood. He said he is a “little bit terrified” to go back to “Queer Eye” next season because he feels he will “age 10 years in six months after we have our baby, but it’s so worth it.” Admitting that it’s “going to be tough,” Trance said: “I know it is, but I’m positive the good is going to outweigh the bad.”
He also spoke about how he wouldn’t mind being a bit stern with his kids, carrying his South Asian traditions forward. “Listen, I don’t want to call out races here, but I find that with Caucasian folks, they’re a little more liberal with their kids,” said. “My husband is Caucasian and all of his family, all of his friends, all of our friends, they’re a little more loosey-goosey,” he said. “Whereas South Asian people are quite strict with their children. I’m definitely going to be a typical South Asian Muslim parent.”
Trance first spoke about the important role he wants his South Asian culture to play in his son’s life on an episode of “A Little Late With Lilly Singh” in June. Although he didn’t share his baby boy’s name then, he told Singh that the name he had picked was South Asian. He also shared a story related to the name. Trance told Singh that he had decided on the name for his son when he was 16-17. So in the first week of dating his husband, he asked him if he wanted kids and shared the baby names he knew he wanted, which his husband loved.
“The first food other than milk that my son will taste will be Indian food,” he said. “I want to teach my kid Hindi. There will only be Bollywood stuff in the house. There will be no, as we call it, white TV. I want him to fully embrace 1970s to 2003 Bollywood.”