Please See Below with Brynn Whitfield
Crying, Cooking and Chemistry With Antoni Porowski
Wed, 26 Mar 2025
In this episode of 'Please See Below,' Brynn sits down with her BFF, Antoni Porowski. They get real about fame, vulnerability, and the unexpected power of oversharing. From Antoni’s early hustle in NYC to the whirlwind of 'Queer Eye,' they dive into self-discovery, reality TV reboots, and the lessons learned along the way. Brynn and Antoni’s effortless chemistry is on full display in this episode, making every moment feel like a conversation you wish you were part of. Host: Brynn Whitfield Guest: Antoni Porowski Producers: Belle Roman, Chelsea Stark-Jones, Kat Spillane Editor: Jon Roemer Theme Song: Devon Renaldo Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
Chapter 1: Who is Antoni Porowski and what is his background?
It's not just these people who are on the show who were trying to like make them be the best version. Yeah.
And you're, you guys just don't coach.
You're not just like, and I hate unsolicited advice. So I certainly don't want to give it. I'm more, I try to approach it the way my therapist approaches it with me, where it's like ask open-ended questions and just like see where it goes and just shut up and pay attention to what the person is saying with vulnerability. It's like,
on one end, like when it kind of dawned on me, it kind of, it was a bit of like the gates opening up and it just kind of like came out sideways. And I would just open up about everything because I learned that people connected with me when I was vulnerable on like a human level. So that made me feel like, Oh, I'm like doing a good thing. I'm connecting with people.
But at the same time, I do have this little voice in the back of my head. That's like, as soon as I share something publicly, um, It's no longer just mine and it's no longer just my secret. And I feel like it kind of loses a bit of its power.
And I think working a public facing job, there are parts of me that I'm always going to want to keep to myself or to my inner circle or just for like me and my family, whether it's protecting somebody or just protecting myself. I think it's tricky and I think it's very much like a case by case study.
Cause even on camera, sometimes it's like, I want to be able to open up about certain things, but it's like, it can be disrespectful towards somebody who's in my life. Even if I talk about it, like in a general sense, it's a weird thing to even talk about because it's like, I have these personal examples and even talking about real things like grief and like loss.
It's like, I never want to be too specific about, Because it's like, I want those parts for me. And a lot of times, like I'm still, I'm still working through it. Like I'm still going to therapy and it's like, I don't like to talk about things in terms of finiteness as if it's something that I've like accomplished or conquered because it's ongoing.
last season when I shared everything about my childhood and stuff like that. And then I like freaked out because I was like, Oh my God, I don't know if my birth mother told her current job that she was ever in prison. Right. My dad's dead. So that is what, but I was like freaking out about that.
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Chapter 2: What was life like for Antoni before Queer Eye?
Cause I know, cause I know that I think the one thing I didn't have a lot growing up or I had like a lot of insecurities. Thank God. All my insecurities were like, I don't have parents and like nobody loves me and that sort of stuff. I didn't have an issue with anything else. Like I know that I'm smart, you know? So if anything, I enjoy it.
Yeah.
If people think I'm dumb, it's like, let's have, cause it's, it's different. Cause I had, it was, I had to go into protective mode and be smarter than like doctors and lawyers and judges and things for years and like make sure and like court appointed counselors and they're going to take me away and police were called and like all these things.
And I remember being little and being like, I have to be smarter than all these people. So now I like being like, Oh, you think I'm dumb or I get to play dumb? Like, and it's,
Because you know who you are.
Yeah, I know who, yeah, I know, I know who I am, but I don't, it's, it's different on ours because, and also maybe that I'm more like your other castmates where I feel like, again, because I grew up being like, okay, if my mom and dad, my biological aren't going to love me. I'm going to everyone else in the world is going to fucking love me.
So it's like the same shit I've been doing my whole life. Like I would make an amazing politician, you know, all office. No, but like, I, I, I, I enjoy getting like connecting with people. I enjoy knowing that like you,
you feel me and i feel you and this is important what's better in the world literally there's nothing better of being and it's true and it's honest of being like and like i we made it ourselves like i see you and you see me and we're actually relatable and and and i know that because we so like we both will walk away feeling better even if we don't see each other even if it's like you see someone on the subway and just something small or like a little conversation with my uber driver that brings me such a like
maybe that's ego, but just like a joy. No. Like I, I, I love it, you know? And even as an Aquarius people were actually, a lot of the times they say the people around us that are closest to us, our most loved ones, they don't feel that. But like our whole thing is like, we love doing it with other people. Like I just love connecting with like complete strangers, specifically on the internet. Yeah.
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Chapter 3: How did Queer Eye change Antoni's life?
And we're talking about like a real life situation or something that we both shared, like an experience that we had from growing up or whatever it is. And it's like, you're able to like do all of that. And you're more complicated. You're a lot more complex and rich. Way more complicated. And we all are, right?
Right, right, right.
Anybody is, but it's like on TV, it's sort of like people want to put you in a category because it's easier to understand. It's like, that's the point of casting is to put you in a box.
When people meet you in real life, do they expect you to be the one they see on TV or do they think they know you more?
All of the above.
Yeah.
I mean, pre-pandemic people were very touchy. I think it's a very emotional show. I have friends of mine who were actors and it's like when they stopped them on the street,
they know them as a concept as a character that they played and there's a certain boundary in a distance or like a reverence if they're like a marvel superhero then it's like for sure there's a bit of like a fear and a respect with us it's like i've like snot cried in every episode and laughed hysterically and like grabbing tan's tank as we're like running down the hall and like just being silly and goofy and so they touch you when they grab and like i have days where i'm like a little more sensitive and i'm a little more introverted and i kind of like tense up and get uncomfortable
um and then i have days when i'm not but i i always try to remind myself like they're seeing like a certain like i'm a concept to them even though i showed showed them a very real very honest true part of myself that is a sliver of who i am right yeah it's true i need to write that down i need to get like a tattoo because that's how i feel yeah yeah like some of them maybe just only attach themselves to like sexy silly irreverent brin sure but like
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