Modeling has taken BLAKE HANSON halfway around the world and back, but it’s his personal journey that’s made the biggest impact on the once-overweight, bashful boy
It’s a story so often heard in gay circles—the overweight, ugly duckling who matures into a thin, gorgeous and self-confident gay man.
But—like any fairy tale—it seems like a good underdog story never gets old. So when Instinct cover model Blake Hanson confesses, “I was an obese teenager with a big double chin, rolls, braces and the side spike and part,” I am immediately intrigued.
“Really?” I shoot back.
As impressive as his physical transformation is—there’s nothing unsightly about this guy now—it’s when he starts talking about his battle with a crippling childhood shyness that I see what a feat it is for the tall, dark and handsome 29-year-old model to be sitting in the makeup chair before our magazine’s cover shoot.
“By nature, I am the type of person who shies out of the center of attention. I try to get out of the spotlight,” shares the charming cover model. “I tend to hang out with people who are very vocal, very extroverted so that they absorb the attention.”
Hanson’s story begins in Northern California, where he grew up in a strict Baptist home. “My parents are really religious,” he says. “It’s very clear cut in their minds what’s right and wrong and there really are no gray areas.”
After graduating from high school—where he began to slim down and grow a bit more confident—Hanson moved away to San Luis Obispo where he attended Cal Poly.
“The four years in San Luis Obispo were a really identifying point in my life. [It] was a chance for me to figure out who I was, where I had been, where I am going,” he says. “I started working out, paying attention to the way I dressed and going to clubs and bars.”
With his newfound sense of self, Hanson was ready for the big time. After college, he moved to the Silicon Valley, where he worked at a big tech company during the dot-com boom for five years—during which he managed to juggle graduate school and a burgeoning modeling career.
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In 2005, after being laid off, Hanson made a bold move and decided to pursue modeling opportunities overseas.
“I knew at that point in my life I had the time, the money and the drive so I went to Spain by myself, found a place to live, an agency and hit the ground running,” he says.
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After just three months, Hanson followed the runway to Istanbul, where he lived in a big apartment with several male models from Germany, Brazil and Czechoslovakia.
“That was a blast; it was crazy,” he laughs. “I met a ton of really cool people and got to experience things I had never really dreamed of and probably may never again.” With plans to cut a path to Dubai next, Hanson was dealt a dose of reality—he was broke. So he returned to Northern California—resuming his career in human resources at a luxury resort—a changed man.
“I grew up a lot living overseas by myself,” he reflects. “It taught me to be independent.”
Now, Hanson—who continues to model on the side—spends his days working long hours, hoping to continue his travels by being promoted to a different branch of his resort. “I’d like to try out Miami. I’ve never been,” he says. “The resort they have there is beautiful, just the whole atmosphere.”
When he’s not working, Hanson spends time at the gym, watches movies, cooks and says he loves to eat. But is there a special someone he spends time with? “I just got out of a messy relationship of over a year so, at this point, I am comfortable and happy being single,” he says excitedly. “But I’m optimistic and looking forward to falling in love again: flirting, exchanging glances, first kisses—just the whole romance of meeting someone and being in love.”
In May, Hanson embarks on yet another journey—one that can be terribly frightening to many gay men: turning 30.
“I’m excited. It’s just a new chapter in my life,” he says, upbeat and optimistic. “My twenties were full of ups and downs, but, for the most part, I feel like I’ve been a lot of places and got to do a lot of things, so I am just excited to see what the next 10 years will offer.”
And with that, my interview with Hanson is over. I turn my recorder off and leave him to the army of makeup and hair people, stylists, photographers and groomers waiting in the wings, ready to prepare Hanson for the high-profile world of a cover model—miles from where the one-time overweight wallflower began his journey.
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un super modelo...
