'Queer Eye' star Tan France was initially 'scared' to join show

June 3 (UPI) -- Queer Eye star Tan France says he was initially "scared" to star on the Netflix series.

The 36-year-old British television personality explained in an excerpt from his memoir, Naturally Tan, published by Stylist Monday, why he was hesitant to represent the gay South Asian community on the show.

France, who was born in the U.K. to Muslim Pakistani parents, recalled how he "never" saw gay South Asians represented in the media while growing up. Becoming a public figure in the community was a daunting prospect.

"When I first considered being on the show, the very idea of representing a community scared the [expletive] out of me, and that was just the LGBT+ community -- adding on the responsibility of representing the South Asian community caused me even greater fear," France wrote. "I worried that everything I did and said would be seen as my speaking for the entire South Asian community.

"Beyond this, I was so worried about how I was going to tackle religion," he added. "I knew that no matter what, I was never going to be just Tan France. The press was always going to refer to me as Tan France, the gay British Muslim. They never introduce Antoni [Porowski] as the gay Polish Christian."

France ultimately joined Queer Eye as the show's fashion expert. He now hopes to encourage and inspire children also yearning for representation in the media.

"I hope it provides comfort to kids who have never seen any version of me on TV before. I hope they think, Tan managed to make things work, and he's happy and open about who he is. I can be, too," the star said.

"I hope I give them some hope," he added.

In addition, France said in an interview with the Irish Times he hopes his book helps challenge biases and prejudices about his particular communities.

"Do I think it's going to change the culture massively? No, but if I change a few minds that's good enough for me," he said.

Naturally Tan debuts Tuesday. Queer Eye co-stars Porowski, Karamo Brown, Bobby Berk and Jonathan Van Ness, and released a third season on Netflix in March.