Tim Gunn's New Book Delivers the Dish

We all know that when a celebrity writes a tell all, it often turns out to really be a "tell not very much." But if a new interview Project Runway's Tim Gunn did with TheFrisky.com is any indication, that definitely won't be true about  Gunn's new book Gunn's Golden Rules: Life's Little Lessons For Making it Work.

I haven't yet read Gunn's book, but AfterElton did get a sneak peek at TheFrisky interview and it has some very interesting and frank commentary from Gunn on a whole host of things including his father's clandestine relationship with ... J. Edgar Hoover!

Here are some excerpts.

About Martha Stewart's daughter Alexis: 

TheFrisky.com: There's a lot of "don't let this happen to you" stories, especially about celebrities with whom you've interacted! Aren't you worried about some of the consequences of ratting out their rude behavior?

Tim Gunn: Oh, for sure I am! I keep thinking Martha Stewart will never have me back on her show again. I mean, I love her. It's her bratty daughter [Alexis] who troubles me so, and especially because Alexis is so willing to do this in public. Of course, at the time we shot that commercial for Macy's [in which Martha and Alexis were hawking some of Martha's products], she didn't have that show "Whatever, Martha" where she picks apart her mother's television show. That hadn't even happened yet. So [Alexis has] taken it even further than when I saw her. Somehow, Martha has become an enabler: she may not be happy with the behavior, but she never once flinched during the whole outburst.

On the possibility his own father was a closeted gay man:

TheFrisky.com: You book doesn't just criticize the behavior of celebs — you write about your own family, too, including where you say that you believe your father may have been a closeted homosexual in a relationship with J. Edgar Hoover. Are they going to be happy about that?

Tim Gunn: (In gloom-and-doom voice) They haven't read it yet. 

TheFrisky.com: How do you think that's going to go?

Tim Gunn: My deathly ill mother, if she's still alive next Tuesday, she won't be by Wednesday.

TheFrisky.com: Oh, I'm so sorry!

Tim Gunn: (laughs uproariously) She's not going to like it.

On calling out this season's Project Runway contestants over Gretchen's bullying: 

TheFrisky.com: So, let's talk "Project Runway." So far this season, Gretchen has been really cruel to the other designers, talking behind people's backs and saying that she would stand up for her group-mates during judging, but then totally selling them out. I was so happy in the last episode when you raised your voice at all the designers and told them they had to stop putting up with Gretchen's bullying behavior.  She totally deserved to get called out! Was that the first time in "Project Runway" history that you injected yourself into the designers' social drama?

Tim Gunn: Yes. That absolutely is. I have never done that before and I will be honest with you, I asked permission to do it. I have a role in that scene [after the judging] saying "Go to the workroom and clean up your space." That's why I said to A.J. [the designer who was sent home last episode instead of Gretchen], "I want you to hear this." Because I also wanted the whole team to know that I was disappointed in all their behavior. They allowed Gretchen to bully them and direct everything. When I saw how the teams lined up and who there players on the teams were, I thought, 'Oh, God, it's so easy to say it's going to be the Christopher-Gretchen-A.J. team that's going to win and the other group is going to be the biggest losers.' And then to watch it all happen — this is why I say truth is stranger than fiction. You can't make this stuff up. I was just so disappointed that they allowed Gretchen to design/direct the entire thing and basically not allow them to be who they are as designers. The behavior that Gretchen demonstrated on the runway during that Q&A with the judges is about as close to psychosis as anything I have seen on the show. 

It's a great interview and I highly recommend you go read the entire article at TheFrisky.com!