Designer Nate Berkus believes losing
his boyfriend in a tsunami has allowed him to embrace his
vulnerability.
Berkus, who became the first openly gay
man to host a nationally syndicated show with the premiere of The
Nate Berkus Show, is prepping a new line of home products to be
sold exclusively at Target.
The new collection will land on Target
shelves on October 21.
The 41-year-old Berkus also has a new
book to pitch, The Things That Matter.
“I wanted to provide people with a
new way of thinking about decoration: How can we get back to
personalizing our spaces?” he
told PARADE. “I was seeing too many homes that didn't reflect
who lived in them.”
He also writes about the 2004 death of
his partner, photographer Fernando Bengoechea, while vacationing in
Sri Lanka. Bengoechea is presumed dead from a tsunami that hit the
island country. Berkus miraculously survived.
“It made me more able to embrace my
vulnerability and care more about having true, legitimate connections
to other people,” he said. (A behind the scenes video is embedded
on this page. Visit
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