Remember when Marc Jacobs allegedly had a 10-man Grindr party and it somehow became an international scandal?
More than a decade later, the legendary gay designer has a pretty simple response.
“Yes, I’m a gay designer who likes to have sex. What can I tell you?”
Honestly, fair. 😂
The quote comes from a new Vanity Fair profile in which Jacobs looks back on the infamous 2015 episode, when Page Six reported that he had hosted a gathering involving up to 10 men he reportedly met through Grindr.
At the time, the story was treated like a major celebrity sex scandal.
Jacobs pushed back on some of the juicier details and famously joked that the evening had been more “mild” than “wild.”
He also briefly deleted Grindr.
“The Grindr Thing Was Such a Big Deal”
Looking back now, Jacobs seems less interested in relitigating the exact details than in questioning why everyone cared so much in the first place.
“I remember the Grindr thing was such a big deal,” he told Vanity Fair.
What seems to matter more to him today is being honest about who he is.
Jacobs says he has reached a point where openness feels good.
“If I don’t want to answer, I won’t, but I’m not going to lie about it.”
That is a distinction worth making.
Privacy does not require shame.
And refusing to lie about being a gay man who enjoys sex does not mean anyone is entitled to every intimate detail of your life.
The “Scandal” Says As Much About 2015 As It Does About Marc
There is something almost quaint about looking back at how enormous the story became.
A famous single gay man used Grindr.
He invited men over.
People apparently had sex.
And somehow the event became front-page celebrity gossip.
That reaction says something about the strange expectations often placed on public gay men.
Be open, but not too sexual.
Be proud, but preferably respectable.
Talk about equality, but perhaps don’t remind everyone that gay men actually have sex.
Jacobs was never particularly interested in playing that game.
Fashion had already made him famous for provocation, excess and refusing to behave exactly as people expected.
His response to the Grindr story ultimately followed the same pattern.
He didn’t pretend it had never happened.
He just refused to accept everyone else’s shame about it.
Life Looks Very Different Now
Much has changed for Jacobs since 2015.
He has been sober since 2016.
In 2019, he married longtime partner Char Defrancesco in New York.
And these days, the couple live in Rye, New York, where Jacobs appears to have embraced a considerably quieter rhythm.
According to the new profile, one of his current pleasures is feeding squirrels and chipmunks around their home.
Which gives us perhaps the most magnificent before-and-after imaginable.
2015:
Grindr party scandal. 🌈
2026:
Married and feeding squirrels in the suburbs. 🐿️😂
From Grindr to Gay Elder Era
There is something oddly charming about that evolution.
Not because one version of Marc Jacobs is more respectable than the other.
That would miss his point entirely.
People change.
They get older.
They get married.
They get sober.
They leave Manhattan for quieter places.
Sometimes they stop meeting men on Grindr and start developing strong opinions about the squirrels in their yard.
None of that requires pretending the person they used to be was shameful.
Jacobs’ new comments feel less like a confession than a refusal to perform embarrassment for somebody else’s comfort.
Yes, he’s gay.
Yes, he likes sex.
What can he tell you? 😂🌈
📷 @themarcjacobs / @chardefrancesco
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