What a Honey: Labrador shakes up the `Queer Eye' formula
By Amy Amatangelo
Friday, February 25, 2005
Honey Labrador likes to say that she lives in her truth. And ``The Lady' of ``Queer Eye for the Straight Girl' (Wednesdays at 10 p.m. on Bravo) has her mother to thank for that.
``My mother was a single mother raising three kids,' Labrador said during a recent telephone interview. ``She gave me this ability to really believe there was nothing I couldn't do. I kind of went into life not thinking I was a minority, not thinking I was different. And it was having this mom who was so totally supportive.
``That's the beauty of what I bring to the show at 39 years of age. At 39, I've had successes and failures in my life. Trials and tribulations. All of the things that happen to us are what makes us who we are. I don't at all have regrets about my past. I don't know that I would have done anything differently.'
This gal pal is the mother of 15-year-old Zoe, her daughter with her ex-husband. She's mindful of what it must be like for her teenage daughter to have a mom who is on a TV series and openly gay.
``Going through life with my mom being a single parent and getting divorced in 1970 when I was in Catholic school, that was a big deal back then. So I can't even fathom, `My mom is a lesbian and she's on television.' It's like, how do I deal with that? The testament to my relationship with Zoe is that she wants to spend time with me.'
The South Hampton, N.Y., native began her career as a model straight out of high school after being discovered at a barbecue.
``I had a track scholarship to University of Rhode Island. I got my scholarship waived for a year and then I went off and started modeling. Within three months I was in Paris. I did the whole European tour. I modeled for what amounts to 16 years.'
A lesbian model doesn't exactly fit society's stereotype.
``A stereotype is an imagined reality. The stereotype of what a lesbian is to you is going to be different to some straight guy or to me, of course. I was interviewed by these two straight men, and they were talking about stereotypes, and I said, `You tell me what you think it means.' Instead of me trying to explain something that I really don't need to explain or I couldn't even imagine how to explain, (what I try to do) is to get other people to talk about what their ideas are and their stereotypes. What I really understand is (that) the way we lose these stereotypes is by not playing into them.'
The series has suddenly made Labrador a role model.
``The main thing people say to me is, `Thank you for putting yourself out there.' . . . I feel like I have a tremendous responsibility to my community to behave in a certain way and to represent my community. That's so true about whatever your path in life is. When you walk through it with courage and strength and hope, you give other people permission to do the same, and that's something my mother taught me.'
Labrador recently produced and starred in the upcoming ``April's Shower,' a movie that tackles the timely topic of gay marriage. She also has formed a production company, Siren.
``Our intent is to make films that really tell our stories.'
And how exactly do you end up with a name like Honey, anyway?
Labrador was born Barbara Jean, but said she received her nickname when her grandmother held her for the first time and said, ``What a honey.'
``The only person who ever called me Barbara was my 10th grade biology teacher because I think he was embarrassed to say Honey.'
AI
