Gok Wan

Early life

Gok Wan was born Kowkhyn Wan in Leicester, Leicestershire, to an English mother, Myra, and a Chinese father, John Tung Shing Wan, who was born in Hong Kong and emigrated to England at age 16. He grew up in Whetstone, Leicestershire, where he worked in his parents' restaurant. Wan stood out from his peers from a young age and endured bullying from other children due to the fact that he was mixed race, tall, overweight and gay.

During his teenage years he weighed as much as 21 stone (133 kg, 294 lb), later commenting that he was "really fat". He was drawn to performing arts with aspirations of becoming an actor, and after leaving Babington Community College he began attending a course at the Charles Keene College of Further Education. Wan received a diploma from the college, then enrolled at the Central School of Speech and Drama and continued to study performing arts. However, the other students had backgrounds very different from his and he felt that his weight was beginning to dictate his life, later saying:

"[It affected] everything: my personality, how people reacted to me, what I wore, everything. When you sit down with someone who's 21 stone you have certain expectations of what they're like: stupid, lazy or really funny."

He felt restricted and unhappy and eventually dropped out of the course, returning to live with his family.

Wan set about losing weight and at the age of 20 he began a crash diet, losing half his weight in several months. In his autobiography he includes a section from a calorie diary he kept at the time, revealing he survived for weeks on end on as little as fruit and honey. He also took up to 50 laxatives a day to prevent himself gaining weight from the little food he did consume. Wan reveals that during his diet he lacked energy and motivation; this, coupled with the stress of his course, sent him into depression. He states that he became suicidal around this time – "I fantasised about killing myself – I could see no other way out...I concluded that suicide was the only option." Wan never did attempt to kill himself, stating a fear that he would be unsuccessful and the attempt would be regarded as "just another failing". Upon dropping out of his course and returning home, he confessed his feelings to his family, and was diagnosed as suffering from anorexia by a doctor. Under the supervision of his family he began to eat more and slowly increased to a healthier weight. Despite the sudden change, he had no problem with having been overweight, later reflecting: "I don't regret having been fat at all. I know how to throw jokes at myself and I use humour before anything else, and those skills allow me to do the chatshows. So I'm thankful for that." He even lamented that, after losing weight, he had to try harder to attract attention, saying that his weight had, to an extent, defined him.

Career

He has worked with many celebrities including Bryan Ferry, All Saints, Damian Lewis, Erasure, Vanessa Mae, Wade Robson, Lauren Laverne, Wet Wet Wet, and Johnny Vaughan. He has offered his opinions to magazines, becoming a fashion consultant, and his work has been published internationally in several magazines including Tatler, Glamour, Times Style, Marie Claire, Cosmopolitan, The Face, Afisha Mir, Clash and People. He has worked with photographers such as Rankin, Mike Owen and Jason Joyce. He has also worked as an "on-screen" fashion consultant on many television shows including: MTV Shakedown (MTV Europe), GMTV (ITV), LK Today (ITV), Big Brother's Little Brother (Channel 4), Battle of the Sexes (BBC One), The Wright Stuff (Channel 5), Make Me a Grown Up (Channel 4/T4), The Xtra Factor (ITV2) and T4 (Channel 4).

In 2006, he was approached by Channel 4 and asked to present his own fashion show, How to Look Good Naked. In addition, he wrote his first book to accompany the series, entitled How to Look Good Naked: Shop for Your Shape and Look Amazing!, that was published in April 2007. A second series was commissioned and was broadcast on Channel 4 in mid-2007. Along with the second series, he appeared on The New Paul O'Grady Show, in which he persuaded Paul O'Grady to strip "naked". From 2008 until 2010, he presented Gok's Fashion Fix, broadcast on Channel 4.

He wrote a book titled How to Dress: Your Complete Style Guide for Every Occasion which was released by HarperCollins on 1 October 2008. The book was praised by both Heat and Closer magazines for its sensitive and feel-good approach to a style guide. He also has a lingerie range at UK-based firm SimplyYours.

His next series Miss Naked Beauty, which he co-presented with Myleene Klass, was broadcast in October and November 2008. The series attracted controversy after Wan denigrated semi-naked women, causing critics to question the motives behind the series; journalist Amanda Platell described it as "vulgarity masquerading as self-help".

Wan presented a documentary which was first broadcast on 27 January 2009, entitled Too Fat Too Young, which examined overweight children in the UK. He reflected on his experience of being obese to help several teenagers. In 2010, he joined the celebrity panel on Channel 4's TV Book Club.

In 2011, he presented a series entitled Gok's Clothes Roadshow on Channel 4, which was criticised for its gimmicks and similarities to Wan's previous shows. This was the year he also released his much anticipated autobiography, Through Thick and Thin, published by Ebury Press. He launched his first women’s clothing collection with Sainburys on 6 November 2011. His red wrap dress sold at a rate of one every 24 seconds. Gok for Tu is still going strong in 2015, and he continues to regularly launch new and exciting collections. In 2012 he starred in a new series entitled Gok's Teens: The Naked Truth on Channel 4 where he gave advice to teenagers about self-confidence, bullying, anxiety and eating disorders.

In 2012 he presented a series entitled Gok Cooks Chinese on Channel 4 and later a book by the same title, Gok Cooks Chinese was published by Michael Joseph (Penguin Group UK). In autumn 2012, Wan presented Baggage, which was broadcast on Channel 4.

In June 2014, Wan attended Royal Ascot for the first time as fashion presenter alongside racing presenter Clare Balding on Channel 4 Racing.

Wan was a regular stand-in presenter for Phillip Schofield on ITV's daytime show ITV This Morning. He also presents various weekly fashion features, and travel documentaries, including a trip with his Dad to explore two different sides to Hong Kong, covering food, family and fashion.

In 2016, Wan presented Fearne And Gok - Off The Rails on ITVBe and Gok's Lunchbox on ITV. Since August 2016, Gok has presented Gok's Fill Your House For Free for Channel 4 daytime, replacing Kirstie Allsopp.

Personal life

He currently resides in London. In 2009 he remarked that he had slept with "21 and a half" men in his life, and that he had also slept with women. In the same interview he also claimed that he had lost his virginity to another boy whilst they were both under the legal age of consent. His brother, Kwoklyn, is an accomplished martial artist who teaches Jeet Kune Do in Leicester. He also has an older sister, Oilen, who is a child-care solicitor.

Wan has been involved in various charitable projects, supporting anti-bullying charities Kidscape and Ditch the Label and launching a National Glasses Day with Specsavers to encourage everyone to wear their spectacles with pride. As part of Children in Need 2008, Gok treated the actors of Coronation Street's Underworld factory to a glamorous makeover. Gok also appeared in Comic Relief Does The Apprentice in March 2009. In 2014, he was named in the top 10 on the World Pride Power list.

Wan has enjoyed dragon boat training with the Raging Dragons, and episode 3 of Gok Cooks Chinese features them paddling together in Royal Albert Dock and eating dim sum in Yiban Chinese restaurant.