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 In The Kitchen & On The Record With Work Out Star JESSE BRUNE
Meandering through the busy, buzzing set of our Instinct cover shoot, I follow the distinct sound of laughter. When I reach it, there sits Jesse Brune, giggling with his younger sister about something I don’t quite catch. It’s like these two are in the most comfortable place on earth. And they might as well be. We’re not in a gym—as many fans of Bravo’s hit Work Out may suspect—but rather a kitchen (the Miele Beverly Hills showroom and design center, to be exact).
“My mother is a Southern gal from Charleston, South Carolina, and she could just really cook up a storm,” Jesse says, grinning from ear to ear. “Food was always at the forefront of growing up. So for me, that’s where the importance of family and food began, and it’s since carried over. Right here, in the kitchen.”
LIFE'S INGREDIENTS
Jesse grew up in a Southern Baptist family in Seattle, Washington, the second youngest of four children (two older brothers and one younger sister, Bethany). A close-knit family, they bonded every evening around the dinner table. His mother worked two jobs to make ends meet. When she came home between jobs, she often put Jesse in charge of helping her prepare dinner so the family could eat together. “For Mom, and for us, it was so we could commune,” he reflects. “At the end of the day it was important to her that we all be together—oh, and of course the food!”
Jesse’s parents divorced when he was 11, and it was at that time that he was beginning to figure out who he really was. By age 15, he came to the realization that he was gay. Jesse had been keeping a journal through the years, and like any sneaky little sister, Bethany found it. “I had a total fascination with New Kids On The Block. Mariah Carey too. All right there in the journal,” he laughs. Bethany quickly chimes in: “I so knew then! When I read ‘N.K.O.T.B. and Mariah Carey’? C’mon! Plus, kids would say little things about Jesse being gay at school. I totally beat up all the boys!”
With the support of his family and a protective little sister, high school went by relatively smoothly for Jesse. After graduation, he decided to move to Los Angeles to pursue acting, and he attended the California Institute of the Arts to study theater. But after two years, that dream quickly ended. “I wanted to be an actor. However, there was one problem,” he laughs. “I hated auditioning.”
He moved to New York, then back to Los Angeles after a year, where he found himself in a studio apartment in Hollywood, reconnecting with his first love: food. Jesse enrolled in the California School of Culinary Arts’ Le Cordon Bleu program to become a chef. But there was one catch. “With all of the cooking culinary school requires, I started noticing all my friends—myself included—gaining, like, 50 pounds,” he confesses. “Not cute!”
FINDING BALANCE
To rid himself of the excess weight and find balance in his life, Jesse dove into the fitness field. “I started teaching boot camp classes, and I developed a following,” he says. It was through these classes that Jesse got an opportunity that would change his life forever. One of his clients was a reality show producer who knew another reality show producer on an upcoming show called Work Out.
“I didn’t think I could do a show about working out,” Jesse says. “I didn’t know if it was my passion.” But Jesse joined the cast anyway and flew with it. “Honestly, it wasn’t until about a year and a half ago that something clicked for me. I realized it wasn’t about training for me. I did the show really because they said they would feature me cooking. So I said, why not?”
When the series first aired, Jesse had no idea what was going to happen. A lot of people started asking him to train them and cook for them. But his popularity, based upon the show’s first season, was short-lived. “Right before we started filming the second season, [the producers] were like, ‘Oh, listen. We’re gonna touch on your weight problem,’ and I looked at them and was like, ‘What weight problem?’ And then it was, ‘…and action!’”
On the show Jesse was bombarded from every angle—trainers and clients alike—with people calling him fat. Jesse didn’t know what had happened, or how this had happened, but he realized it was time for him to be honest with himself and ask himself the questions he had been avoiding. “When I watched the show, I saw someone who was pretty miserable with life.”
THE SEEDS OF SUCCESS
After seeing the way he was portrayed in the second season of Work Out, Jesse had to do a lot of soul searching. “I think I lost myself a little bit,” he explains. “I started to feel like a fraud. I wasn’t happy with myself. I started eating more and working out less, drinking too much, going out too much. When I was in the fitness field, it didn’t make sense. So I asked myself, ‘How do I get happy?’”
Jesse stopped blaming the producers and star Jackie Warner, and he stopped beating himself up. While it may not have been the nicest or subtlest way to get a message across, Jesse realized that people might be calling him fat for a reason. “What can I do about it?” Jesse pondered. “If you’re fine with it, rock it! Love it! Love yourself. But if you’re not, there is a change that needs to happen.”
For Jesse, that change began by seeking a spiritual connection with his Southern Baptist upbringing that had dissipated when Jesse set out on his own long ago. Through meditation and self-exploration, Jesse was able to get centered again, allowing him the focus he needed to both train and help others find their own balance and their own success.
“It clicked with me that I could help myself and help other people transform their lives,” Jesse says with pride. “I’m not just a trainer. I’m not just a chef. I also started a conscious thinking group. I’m not a guru by any means, but I’m somebody on a life journey who helps people along their journey as well.”
NOTHING LOST, NOTHING GAINED
Loving himself, eating healthfully, training and starring in a hit reality TV show—it seems Jesse has it all, including a special someone who is taking this journey with him.
“I’m in a relationship now, and it’s great,” he says with a wide smile. “It’s the first relationship that I’ve been in where I can sit back and say, this is a healthy relationship, because if something comes up, we can talk about it.”
But a healthy relationship is not the only thing bringing Jesse happiness these days. Traveling, TV appearances, dinner parties, interviews and this cover shoot bring him joy as well. “I’m on the cover of a magazine…which is weird!” Jesse laughs. “I have to back up and just say thank you. Thank you, God. Thank you, universe. Thank you, Mom and Dad. Thank you! I am healthy. I am happy, and I can do this.”
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For more of the Happy Living Expert, visit jessebrune.com and watch him on Work Out on Bravo.
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To buy a copy of Jesse's issue—or any other back issue—or order online here!
PLUS - Check out our behind-the-scenes cover shoot video here!
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Instinct Online 
written by Corrie on April 04, 2008
Jesse - I remember you in plays in high school with my little sister Kellie. You are AWESOME!! I miss you here in Seattle.
written by Paul J on April 04, 2008
Jesse's cute. He looks great, too. they were so mean to him last year.
written by Ron! on April 09, 2008
jesse you look GREAT! Love the article, you have many talents!
written by everardo robels on April 25, 2008
the cute think in the world amazing
written by deejay signs on May 10, 2008
I love it!
Deejay Signs