Now he’s back in the zeitgeist thanks to Netflix’s new docuseries, Reality Check: Inside America’s Next Top Model, we’re all wondering: What happened to Miss J? Well, he continued coaching and judging on international versions of the show, making guest appearances on both Canada’s Next Top Model and Britain’s Next Top Model, as well as the Estonian and Russian iterations. And he actually came back to ANTM for cycles 21 and 22. He also worked as a teacher at the prestigious Savannah College of Art and Design, as he mentions in the docuseries.
However, in December 2022 he suffered a stroke and was in a coma for five weeks. When he awoke, he couldn’t speak or walk—an especially tough blow given the number of models he taught to walk the runways. However, he’s since relearned how to talk and is steadfastly working on mobility.
For the first year and a half of his recovery, he was confined to a small room, which he documented in footage that aired on Reality Check. He told producers that both Barker and Manuel came to visit him while he was bedridden. At the time the interview was recorded, he said that Banks had not visited him.
Also on the personal side of things, he revealed in 2009 that he and his boyfriend had donated sperm to help a “French lesbian” conceive a son, Boris, who was then seven years old, explaining that though he’s not Boris’s biological father, he considers him a son, per Extra.