Queer Eye star Tan France:" I was beaten up racist, grown men as a 5-year-old boy in Doncaster"

Doncaster born Queer Eye star Tan France has revealed that he was beaten up by grown men, who hurled racist abuse at him as a five-year-old boy in the town.
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The Netflix show presenter has described his ‘really rough&rsquo childhood in Doncaster as ‘terrifying’ – and was one of the reasons for him moving to live in the USA.

The 36-year-old opened up about the racist abuse he was subjected to in his youth on Chris Evans' Virgin Radio Breakfast Show earlier this morning.

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He now lives in Salt Lake City in America with his husband Rob - admitting that he snubbed the UK due to the "trauma" he suffered growing up in Doncaster.

He said: "I was bullied every day for being a Pakistani and it was a fight for survival every day to make sure people didn't beat the bejesus out of me."

He went on to share that his older brother used to take the beating so that Tan could run home, continuing: "It was a really rough childhood.

"At the time I thought it was normal, it was completely the way life is, and now when I look back on it it's terrifying.

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"When you are five years old and an 18 to 20-something-year-old is beating the cr*p out of you, that's a terrible existence.

"People ask why I moved away from England, I have been gone for 11 years and it's not because I don't love England, I love England, but I experienced a lot of trauma here and I don't get that in Salt Lake. That's why I chose to make it home."

The presenter has previously spoken about his difficulties as growing up as a gay Muslim in Doncaster and that he bleached his skin as a child in a bid to make himself ‘more attractive’ and to fit in.

Tan, whose real name is Tanweer Wasim France, studied fashion at Doncaster College and then moved to Manchester before ultimately settling in London.

In 2008 he began working in the United States and he moved there in 2015.