Kriti Mehrotra
With makeover reality productions having been all the rage over the past few years, it’s hard for any particular one to stand out, but Netflix’s ‘Queer Eye‘ does due to its incredibly personal approach. After all, it centers around five skilled professionals (aka the Fab Five) as they lend their respective expertise to help people (or Heroes) from all walks of life reach their full potential through self-care. Amongst these latter heroes in season 8 was actually Vietnamese-American Anh Luu.
Anh Luu’s Queer Eye Journey
It was back in the mid to late 2010s when Anh’s entire world turned upside down as she lost her mother in a terrible car crash and realized she’d been the glue to their entire immigrant family. Though the truth is what hurts this young woman the most is they weren’t close in the preceding years owing to a few different things, making her have a lot of regrets while wondering, “What if?” That’s because there was a cultural difference since she alone was born in the US – in New Orleans, Louisiana – and had chosen to focus on work rather than her personal relationships because she was pursuing something new.
According to Anh’s own accounts, they’d actually been displaced to Portland following Hurricane Katrina, and it was there that she truly honed in on cooking to pursue a career as a chef. She even had plans to buy her own restaurant and open it with a unique menu that laid down who she is and her roots, but the same week it was to go through, her mother died in a car crash while on a road trip with her father. The latter thankfully made it out okay, but his relationship with the family changed shortly thereafter too because he tied the knot with someone new within six months without informing anybody.
With all this, Anh returned to her hometown for some peace and stability, only to soon find herself meeting her love Sam Jones and serving as the Executive Chef at Bywater Brew Pub. However, things didn’t work out as she’d planned because she soon developed depression and lost the spark of her passion to such an extent she began using it to run away – there was no creativity or fun in it anymore. That’s when the Fab Five came into the picture thanks to Sam, enabling his girlfriend of three years to find the passion in life again upon gaining some closure – she obviously couldn’t get it with her mother face to face, so she did so with the help of a summer club dinner at the pub, and talked to her father one on one to make her hurt clear.
In the end, Anh conceded, “I really thought I was going to be stuck in my mindset that I was in before this for a long time. And it feels really good to know how to cope and have the courage to accommodate myself. I feel like a new person.” The fact she had Sam’s continued, unwavering support also helped a long way, especially as he was there to encourage her with everything – all he wanted was to see her happy and spend quality time with her again, so he was over the moon with the progress.
Where is Anh Luu Now?
Despite the fact Anh admits the Fab Five did help a lot, her depression obviously hasn’t vanished into thin air – though it is a lot more manageable to her, especially as she has since gotten a therapist. Moreover, from what we can tell, she and Sam have since relocated to a new home in New Orleans owing to a rat infestation as well as space issues in their former place, and have adopted an adorable little dog named Mac. As for her relationship with her previously estanged father, she has revealed they are now closer than before thanks to the honest conversation she had with him.
Then comes Anh’s professional standing, and well, the truth is she has since parted ways with her post as Executive Chef at Bywater Brew Pub to run her own culinary business. It appears as if this 37-year-old recently established a freelance chef company called Busy Be while also operating small pop-ups, catering private dinners, teaching cooking lessons, and working as a consultant for other restaurants. “I have a lot more time for myself, and I am a bit more financially free,” she said. “I love the fact that I can pick and choose the projects I want to work on and just be sick when I’m sick and not have to worry about anyone else.” Honestly, we can’t wait to see what’s in the cards for her next.
Read More: Where is Ernest Bartholomew Now?
