Jack Mackenroth, ‘Project Runway’s’ first openly HIV-positive contestant, tries to make it work on a dress form.
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BRIAN MOYLAN
Friday, December 21, 2007
Mackenroth talks about the show and making it work with HIV
Part of the fun of watching Bravo’s hit fashion design competition “Project Runway” is that it’s never predictable. The audience can’t guess who might make a horrible dress out of salad greens or who gay judge Michael Kors is going to chew out on the runway or just what hideous outfit host Heidi Klum is going to wear.
One thing that many “Runway” fans were aware of is that Jack Mackenroth, the show’s first openly HIV-positive contestant, may not make it to the end of the competition, and not because he committed an atrocity with silk charmeuse, but because of his health.
Back in October, a month before the fourth season started, a gossip column in the New York Daily News reported that Mackenroth would leave the show in its fifth episode for health reasons, and, lo and behold, that’s exactly what happened.
On the Dec. 12 episode, Mackenroth revealed that he has MRSA, a type of drug-resistant staph infection, on his lip. Because of the disease’s aggressive nature, hospitalization is often necessary to fight it. Mackenroth then became another “Runway” first: the only person to leave the sewing room voluntarily.
Even in his brief stint on the show, Mackenroth, 38, who was raised outside of Seattle and now lives in New York City, showed considerable talent. He was never called onto the runway for a bad design, and even managed to win a challenge, designing a menswear outfit for “Today” show co-host Tiki Barber, who wore the ensemble on the air.
He also became a favorite of gay audiences, partially due to his good looks and incredibly fit body — a body that was on full display in a clutch of nude photos that found their way to many popular gay blogs and web sites after he was cast.
Not only a model — both nude and for legit magazines like Men’s Fitness, Blue and Men’s Journal — Mackenroth has some serious cred as a designer. He has degrees from both Berkeley and Parsons School of Design and designed menswear for Tommy Hilfiger and Weatherproof Active Wear.
The Blade sat down with the actor, model, designer and competitive swimmer to talk about his departure from the show, the visibility of HIV-positive people on television and his new reality-TV star boyfriend.
Jack Mackenroth: I had been working in New York as a designer for 15 years and I loved the show, but it was a women’s wear show and I was a men’s designer. To try out you have to bring in three items you’ve made and the audition process is arduous. On season two there was a designer Emmet McCarthy who was a menswear designer so I thought, “I can do this.” So for season three auditions, I had three dresses and I had done some sketches. They told me maybe, but the next year, I started way ahead of time, and I made 7 dresses and I illustrated a whole collection and that’s how I got on the show.
Mackenroth: I didn’t think of it like that. I didn’t want to use the show for anything but advancing my career. It is just a secondary effect that has been amazing. I found out [I had HIV] about 17 years ago and I was very young. After I got comfortable with having it and everything involved with that and realized I was going to be healthy for the long term, it was my stance to be open and honest about it. If you can’t deal with it, that’s your issue, I’m going to move on.
Mackenroth: I was concerned about being the HIV-positive guy who got sick. I think it’s clear on the show and the way they edited it that being HIV-positive and getting the infection aren’t necessarily related. In my case, my T-cells are in the normal range of healthy and I have an undetectable viral load, so it’s not because my immune system was compromised. I had a lot of issues about the way I left. It’s not the way I envisioned leaving the show, but you have to play with the cards you’re dealt.
Mackenroth: I was in the hospital in June and I was out in 5 days. I was 100 percent back to normal in 10 days.
Mackenroth: Yes, I do. I think all of our immune systems were suppressed. We’re under stress and not sleeping. You skip meals because you don’t want to take time out. Was I under the most beneficial health conditions? No.
Mackenroth: I had this bump in my nose, and I thought it was a pimple or something and one morning, I got up to go to the bathroom at like 4 a.m. I turn on the light and my lip was really swollen. About three or four years ago, I had [a MRSA infection] before, once on my leg and one on my chin and I know how rapidly those advanced, so I was immediately suspect. Over the next couple of days it just got worse. On the episode you see me, I’m at the end of my rope and I’m exhausted and stressed. At that point, it was so swollen. I had a sore on the inside of my mouth and I was getting a fever, and I really had no choice. With my whole heart I wanted to stay, but I couldn’t. At that point I was about endangering other people as well, and I just couldn’t do that.
Mackenroth: It was presented to me as an option. I’ll cross that bridge when I get to it. I have a lot of stuff going on now, and I don’t know. I can’t make up my mind at this point.
Mackenroth: I really liked the first one, because I loved my dress, and I thought it was adorable. And I loved the fourth one, because I loved [fellow designers] Kit and Christian. We howled the whole time. They’re both great.
Mackenroth: I don’t badmouth the other designers; let’s just say “yes.”
Mackenroth: My personal favorite, who I think is an amazing talent, is Christian. From what I’ve seen he’s an amazing technician. It would be great for him to go to the finals, because his collection will be off the hook. I just loved him. He was my little pocket gay.
Mackenroth: You know, he’s 21. If you had seen my hair at 21, it wasn’t that much different.
Mackenroth: Yes.
Mackenroth: Well, I’d sleep with Christian. I can’t kill either one of them. I don’t think I’d want to marry Tim. I’ll marry Michael because he’s rich. And I wouldn’t kill Tim, I’d just torture him for a while.
Mackenroth: It’s a cute story. I was a fan of his from the show, and you know in the box on MySpace you can say who you want to meet … and I put Dale from “Top Chef.” A friend of his found it and he messaged me on MySpace and said he was flattered, and we started talking on the phone about the Bravo experience. We had a lot in common, and he came to New York and we had a blast.
Mackenroth: Chicago. That’s a problem. There’s a myriad of issues. I’m so busy with press and fallout from the show and he’s opening a restaurant. We’re taking it day by day and we’re planning to meet in January and we’re doing an event together in March. We’ll take it slowly, no rush.
Mackenroth: I’b been a model in the ’90s and I’ve been naked a lot, so it just doesn’t bother me. The photographer approached me, he had seen me at the gym or something and he said he did male nudes. I didn’t think twice about it. My criterion for anything is can my mom see these and be proud of them. I don’t think there’s anything pornographic about them. I think they’re beautiful and I work hard on my body. At 38, you have to go the gym like five times a day to stay in shape.
Mackenroth: That’s a good question. I’m fielding a lot of offers, there are people looking for me to do events and HIV education. As far as design is concerned, at this point I want to stay in menswear. I did develop a line while on hiatus, since I’m not in the finals. I don’t know where that’s going to go or if I’ll end up at another company again. I’m just taking it one day at a time right now, and maybe in a month I’ll have a career plan.
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Blade: So, what was the decision-making process like when you were thinking about leaving the show?
