Lots of readers have been writing in about Queer Eye Jonathan Van Ness.  He has transformed himself with a 70-pound weight loss.  He reveals it began with some “medical issues” he had in 2023.  In addition to portion control and Pilates (thank you, Star Jones), he adds, “I want to note, GLP-1s have been a huge help.”  He says he “didn’t feel good”, and adds that his whole life he wanted to see an ab – and now he can.  “But I want to get one thing straight.  I was always really, really cute.  And I always felt cute, but I didn’t feel good.  And now I feel good.”

Then there’s sexy Scott Clifton, who appears as Liam on The Bold and the Beautiful.  The formerly hunky actor who was perfection to this viewer has lately been sporting a much leaner frame – which has led people to inquire about his health.  Yes, his character had brain surgery for a tumor…that he actually didn’t have (it’s a long story).  But insiders say his weight loss is due to stressful marital issues off-screen rather than health challenges on.

I’ve held onto this week’s Ask Billy question for a while, because there wasn’t anything timely about it…until now.  Will in Chicago: “I know you watch CBS soaps.  Have you checked out Beyond the Gates?  The guy who plays Smitty is so hot – and so familiar.  What do you know about him?”

That would be Mike Manning – previously on The Real World: DC way back in 2009.  At the time, he identified as bisexual (he has since married Nicholas Tocco).  Over the years, he’s done a fair amount of acting and producing, and last year joined Beyond the Gates as Bradley “Smitty” Smith.  His character is married to Martin – making him part of a gay interracial couple.  They even have adopted kids!  In a recent episode, his character made the following speech: “We can’t pretend that sex wasn’t in every song we listened to growing up.  Or on every season of The Real World.”  Mike showed the clip online and gave kudos to whoever wrote and greenlit that line.  For those who didn’t know, he explained how that related to his own experience.  He relates that when he moved to LA, his agent told him never to mention The Real World if he wanted to be taken seriously as an actor.  “And now, here we are, all these years later.  On Beyond the Gates, whichever writer decided to incorporate that line into my character’s dialogue, it’s so funny.  Well played.  Art imitating life.  It feels so meta.  I don’t even know who it was or how you found out, but well played.  That’s hilarious.”  Well, Mike, it’s not really much of a secret – especially since people can watch the clip on BillyMasters.com.

When life is imitating art, we’ve definitely come to the end of yet another column.  While I try and investigate how Sam, Jonathan and Scott lost all that weight, you can check out www.BillyMasters.com – the site that will keep you on the edge of your seat.  If you have a topic for me to tackle, send it along to Billy@BillyMasters.com and I promise to get back to you before someone charges Jonathan Bailey with the murder of Stephen Sondheim.  Until next time, remember, one man’s filth is another man’s bible.