Queer Eye‘s Jonathan Van Ness is addressing allegations that surfaced in March claiming they are difficult to work with.

During the June 27 episode of the podcast Table Manners, Van Ness — who is nonbinary — recalled a moment in December 2023 when the Queer Eye cast — which also includes Tan France, Antoni Porowski, Karamo Brown and former castmember Bobby Berk — first learned that Rolling Stone was planning to run an “exposé piece” about Van Ness’ alleged behavior and the ongoing tensions on set.

“Our whole Queer Eye family had first learned about this article in like December,” Van Ness, 37, explained. “There’s someone who’s gonna write an investigative takedown, like exposé piece about you that isn’t really based in reality, but can certainly have a lot of things taken out of context to make you look as bad as possible. So that could drop any day now. So just so you know.’”

With that in mind, Van Ness said they were “walking on eggshells” until the article published.

In the Rolling Stone story, production sources alleged that the hairstylist was challenging to work with, calling them “abusive” and saying they had “rage issues” that caused a rift between the Queer Eye Fab Five. The report also claimed that their behavior led to multiple members of the group being reluctant to shoot with them. (Reps for Van Ness did not respond to PEOPLE’s request for comment at the time.)

The allegations came shortly after it was confirmed that Jeremiah Brent would be replacing Bobby Berk. When Berk announced his departure, he shared that it was a “necessary” decision to make, and fans later began to speculate that it had to do with Van Ness’ alleged behavior. However, a source told PEOPLE at the time that “Bobby’s departure is unrelated to relationships with his castmates. The parting was amicable.”

Van Ness, for their part, said during the Table Manners episode that the article was “overwhelmingly untrue and done in bad faith.”

“I think a lot of people were looking for a reason to hate me or looking for a reason to be like, ‘See, I always knew that they were a fake c— and this is the proof,’” Van Ness said. “My family was so supportive of my husband [Mark Peacock] and my team, but I didn’t even get on social media [or] look at my phone for three weeks. And anytime I tried to dip my toe in, I would immediately see something that was so intensely hurtful.”

“I think people forget no matter how famous you are you’re still a person,” Van Ness continued, noting that the story also came out around when they were promoting their new hair care line, JVN Hair. “That article came at an incredibly vulnerable time, for my hair care company, for my whole career. It just was really rough.”

Despite the emotional toll it took, Van Ness said the article caused them and their castmates to pause and reflect.

“I was like, ‘Oh my God, is it true? Like, am I really this bad person?’” they said. “It forced me to just like really learn how to slow down, disengage and then really love myself.”

Van Ness also acknowledged there have been moments in their career when they were “stressed out,” but could’ve acted differently. “I may have been like, elbow-deep in highlights and was like, ‘No, I can’t talk about that right now,’” they explained. “I know that there was times where I could have been better.”

If there was any silver lining to come from the controversy, it’s that Van Ness realized how much pressure they’d put on themselves to be an “expert” and “perfect” throughout their career.

“I’m someone who champions self-acceptance,” they added. “But sometimes self-acceptance looks like having to love yourself through incredibly hard times.”