Jonathan Van Ness Becomes the 'First Non-Female' 'Cosmopolitan UK' Cover Star in 35 Years

The reality star wears an orange Christian Siriano tulle gown and Nike sneakers on the cover of the January issue

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Published on December 2, 2019 07:00 PM

Jonathan Van Ness is breaking barriers — again!

The Queer Eye grooming guru, 32, just graced the January issue of Cosmopolitan UK, which makes him the first non-female cover star in 35 years. For his boundary-breaking shot, he donned a ruffled Christian Siriano orange tulle gown and a pair of classic Nike Cortez sneakers.

Jonathan Van Ness Cosmopolitan UK — Courtesy Cosmopolitan UK / Rachell Smith

The coverline reads, simply, “Yep. We did it. You’re totally welcome,” in bold black font.

Ness debuted the smiley photo on Instagram on Monday, writing “My body is ready 💗,” in the caption adding, “1st non Female cover star of @cosmopolitanukin 35 YEARS 🏳️‍🌈.”

“Majornesssssss ❤️❤️❤️❤️,” supermodel Lily Aldridge commented. While Siriano said, “Divine in every single way. ❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️.”

The magazine previously had the members of One Direction on the cover in 2012, but Van Ness marks the first solo non-female celebrity to appear on the cover (which hits newsstands Dec. 5) since Boy George in December 1984.

This major milestone comes just a few months after the star revealed he was HIV positive in his memoir, Over the Top, which hit shelves on Sept. 24. In the book, Van Ness shared that he was diagnosed when he was 25, after fainting while working on a client’s hair.

He opened up to Cosmopolitan UK about living with HIV: “This is only the beginning. I’m quickly realising that there is still so much misunderstanding, so much sensationalising of living with HIV,” he told the outlet. “The stigma and the difficulty around the process of getting treatment is creating that. My work has only really just begun.”

“I don’t know how to fix the world! I really want to improve the social safety net for people living with HIV and figure out how to make sure Donald Trump doesn’t win [another election] and find out how to make legislators sexy again and make critical thinking cool,” Van Ness continued. “I want equal rights and protections for women and LGBTQ+ people.”

“I say in the book that I really love boxes, f—king clean tidy edges, let me put all the bad stuff in a box and never deal with it again, but I really don’t think that’s how life works. There’s a billion ways you can get better. A lot of times people will come to me in life or in DMs with, like, really intense f—king long things and I’m like ‘I don’t know!'”

And after sharing on Instagram that Taylor Swift (a self-proclaimed cat lady) paid a visit to his home to meet his four fur babies, Van Ness told Cosmopolitan UK that he recently turned down another opportunity to hang out with the pop star in the name of self-care

“I also now say no to a lot of s—t. I mean, stuff I really want to say yes to,” he said. “The other day, Taylor [Swift] and I were making soup and she asked me to go to a Madonna concert with her. That was the day before my 5am flight to London to come here for this shoot and my tour. I knew it would be an amazing experience.”

“But also… my nervous system. I was a full-time hairdresser and small-business owner, like, 19 months ago. But I hate saying no. I love my friends. I get FOMO. But I have to prioritise self-care. Because if I don’t then my candle will burn out,” the reality star told the outlet.

Earlier this year, the Queer Eye star also opened up about his gender identity, saying he doesn’t consider himself a cisgender man.

In an interview with Out Magazine in June, he explained that he identifies as gender nonbinary.

“The older I get, the more I think that I’m nonbinary,” Van Ness said. “I’m gender nonconforming. Like, some days I feel like a man, but then other days I feel like a woman.”

Van Ness, 32, said he still uses he/him pronouns.

“I think that a lot of times gender is used to separate and divide,” he said. “It’s this social construct that I don’t really feel like I fit into the way I used to.”

He regularly expresses his more feminine side through fashion by wearing heels, skirts and other clothing that are traditionally made for women.

“I’ve been wearing heels and wearing makeup and wearing skirts and stuff for a minute, honey,” he said. “I just didn’t know that that meant that I had a title.”