Sherae Honeycutt

KANSAS CITY, Mo. — Original Post

The new season of “Queer Eye” was released on Friday, and you may see some familiar faces.

Possibly the most familiar is the metro’s own John Stoner. However, you may know him as one of the cat suit guys.

Stoner may be more well known for what he wears than his face. He and some friends would dress up in leotards covered in cat faces and attend Royals and Chiefs games. It led to acts of community volunteerism and a lot of funny selfies.

But in season 4 of “Queer Eye” on Netflix, you get to see the man behind the cat onesie.

“It was an amazing experience,” Stoner said. “They came to town and were looking for guys. They contacted my daughter’s ice skating rink, and they said actually we do have a dad that needs to be cleaned up.”

The healthcare consultant co-parents his 10-year-old daughter, Lucy, with her mom. The Fab Five not only cleaned him up, but also worked on him becoming a better dad.

“I feel like he was in a stage where he really just couldn’t get out of his regular routine, and he needed a shoot in the right direction,” Lucy said.

John got a new look, his home redecorated, but most importantly he opened up about his battle with depression.

“I have had four of five people message me on Facebook and text messages that it helped them seeing somebody else struggling with the same things and talking about it,” Stoner said. “I’m hoping that people go get help and know that it’s OK to talk about it.”

“I was just really happy for him because he didn’t enjoy things as much as he used to, so I was happy that he finally got to open up,” Lucy said.

Lucy not only got to see her dad grow, but was able to meet and skate with Olympic medalist, Michelle Kwon, and Fab Five member Jonathan Van Ness.

“He did pretty well,” Lucy said. “I mean, me and Michelle Kwan taught him to do cross overs and just some basic skating moves that we learned first. It was a dream come true. I never thought I would have the opportunity.”

Stoner said his life is so different now he doesn’t even know where his cat onesie is.

“I think they’ve been commandeered by Jonathan,” Stoner said. “He mentioned it in the episode. I thought he was joking. I was looking for them the other day because a buddy wanted to borrow them, but they were nowhere to be found, so I hope I get to see him wearing one of those.”

Now that his life is changed he’s hoping his message can change others, too.

“It made me feel good that besides me getting fancied up and my house getting done and new clothes, that some real good was being done,” Stoner said.