I have been living under a rock! Yesterday’s Boston Globe has an interview with Extreme Makeover: Home Edition’s hunky landscaper/designer Eduardo Xol (pronounced “soul”), which mentions, among many things, his status as one of Mexico’s first openly gay pop stars back in the 90’s.

I didn’t even know he was Mexican, let alone a pop star, not to mention gay. However, a quick look-up on the internet reveals that I’m the only who didn’t get the memo. Oh what I’ve been missing.

The main focus of the interview is Xol’s recently published book Home Sense: Simple Solutions to Enhance Where and How You Live, in which he advises the reader on how to decorate their environment in way that stimulates all the senses.

It also covers his circuitous route to becoming a designer. After working as an actor and model in Mexico, the Los Angeles born Xol went on to become a successful Latin Pop Star, and an openly gay one at that. In fact, he was often referred to as the “gay Ricky Martin.” (Okay, you can stop snickering now.) After burning out on the music scene he discovered his love of landscape design, which eventually lead to a successful landscaping business and then to Extreme Makeover.

Those of you with clue (unlike me) may have caught him at this year’s GLAAD Media Awards in L.A., where he and Wilson Cruz presented an award to Los Angeles based La Opinion for Outstanding Spanish Language Newspaper Coverage. During their segment Xol planted a kiss on the clearly enamored Cruz after he commented that Xol was “so big!” (He was talking about his height…seriously, genug with the snickering already. I have a picture to prove it).

I’ve also thrown in the cover of one his more successful albums looking appropriately pop star-ish (and disturbingly similar to David "Bud Bundy" Faustino). Enjoy!