Bob Paris and Rod Jackson

They were beautiful, successful, proud, and out, so of course everyone on DL hated them. So they broke up and went away.

Because of DL, r1 ? Didn't they break up some 20 years ago ?

Today, Paris lives with his spouse, Brian, on an island near Vancouver, British Columbia.

Together since 1996, Bob and Brian were legally married after Canada equalized the marriage laws in 2003.

The blond one had a great body but a monkey face. He was NOT beautiful.

No one knows what happened. They kept mum on it. Paris did later admit that they had not been practicing safe sex with each other- and there was a rumor that one of them cheated. Because Paris was the famous part of the pair, the presumption of cheating fell upon Rod Jackson. But who knows. They did not break up amicably.

What on Earth happened to Jackson?? He was modeling ("fitness" modeling), then after the break up he fell off the face of the Earth. Anyone know?

It was obvious the blond was cheating-he certainly came off as a narcissistic, opportunistic slut who was using the poor guy for media attention.

Bob has his own website (just google him.) I've searched for info on Rod for years, but can never find anything. I bought their book and remember them making talk show appearances together. I was crushed when they broke up.

Bob is finally OFF steroids. Rod? Dunno.

I never know which one is Bob and which one is Rod. The dark haired guy was really hot while the blond guy did have butterface (don't know if he still does). Their coffeetable book launched Tom Bianchi's photo career and he was heavily involved with 10% Production.

Rod was living in Los Angeles, not sure if he still is. I used to see him at my gym all the time but it was probably about 10 years ago. I actually heard that Rod was going to law school at the time.

When the two were together, Bob was always introduced as a world renowned bodybuilder and Rod as a social worker.

Rod = very obvious nose job. Rod is married to a former (female) model now.

Link that he his married to a woman R12, however I think you are full of shit.

R12= biggest liar on earth.

Seems like one of them was dating John Wesley Shipp for a while in the mid 90s fairly soon after the breakup.

And Bob has several books out. One of them is called Gorilla Suit, about being gay in the bodybuilding world.

Is Bob the dark-haired BB?

Yes, R16. Pay attention, puh-leeze!

They fascinated me as a kid. One of the first things I ever recorded on the family's gigantic beta video recorder was an episode of "Donahue" they were on. It was on during the summer when I was home alone (I might have been in 6th grade or so) and I sat and recorded it and paused out all of the commercials. I kept the tape under my bed and would watch it as soon as I was alone in the house. I didn't jerk off to it or anything (that I remember), I just remember being amazed that those guys felt like I did. I would pretend that they had adopted me, and we would all live this wonderful happy shirtless life. OK, maybe I did jerk off to it once or twice.

I knew Bob years ago He occasionally comes back to his hometown and is as nice as ever. He dated a girl in high school, btw. But there was never anything pretentious about him

His mother Sue is wonderful. I see her about once a week. She's always remained supportive of him although I think the initial National Enguirer article embarrassed his brother; His brother is always very attractive, but married to a woman and with a daughter in college.

R18, I taped that same Donahue episode! I remember they sat together holding hands the entire time. I actually had it until recently - the quality had gotten so bad I finally threw it out.

I remember the pair on Joan Rivers daytime talk show as well as Donahue.

I bought my first Advocate in a brown paper bag when they were the cover.

I couldn't believe there were masculine, well built gay, OUT men.

Now, they're done. The Advocate's done (at least as a magazine).

And I STILL don't have a b.f.

"masculine"???

And once more for effect- MASCULINE? Are you deaf hon?

Back around 2003, I briefly worked at the William Morris Agency in Beverly Hills. What a shock when one day I met Rod Jackson!

A double shock when I learned he was employed there as a runner, which is essentially an in-house temp who would daily fill in for whichever agent's assistant was out on any given day.

It was apparent he had aspirations to be an agent.

STRAIGHT FROM THE HEART was the very first book I read upon coming out, and I was greatly inspired by it. It was disheartening to see one of the most well-known gay icons of the 1980s/1990s, now in his 40s, making pennies a week at a job normally held by recent young college grads desperate to break into Hollywood.

I interacted with him quite often, and he was always kind, thoughtful, friendly, warm and refreshingly unpretentious.

He still had a killer bod.

Bob Paris was/is very masculine. Rod Jackson - less so, but no screaming queen.

WOW, you people are so screwed up! ....Rod Jackson was my best friend and he is a wonderful person. Before you start trash talking about someone why dont you get your facts straight! And i will not sit here and have you talk smack about one of the nicest, sweetest, kindest men i have ever known!

Stamp your little foot in impotent rage, r27!

What can you tell us about Rod, R27? You say "was." Are you no longer friends?

Once had dinner with them. Very kind, though Rod seemed a little phony. They clearly wanted to have a foursome with me and my friend, but we were a little too dumb to process that then (it was 1995, and we were in college).

Bob Paris was a walking wet dream,I'm sure he's a hot daddy now.Any current pictures available of him?

Bob today

Never could stand them. They seemed like more a Hollywood creation then a real couple. So full of themselves and their perfect life style. I found them boring and plastic. Did they ever do anything else other then preen for the cameras?

I've been searching for years on information about what happened to Rod Jackson. Is he still muscular or has he slimmed down?

Bad link

We'll always have Paris.

His website hasn't been updated since 2010 and in it he complains about the "sheer volume" of email. Mary!

They were the flavor couple of the month many years ago - long before they had established any decent track level as a couple. They fell apart, which wasn't surprising. Now they would be good materials for the old "Whatever Happened To" volumes that used to be published.

Back in the day -

Bob and Rob did a nude photo book together, think that is very rare to find.

Rob had a small part in "My Best Friend's Wedding" playing Rupert Everett's boyfriend.

I, too, always felt the coupling was more celebrity than sincere. But it helped in its own way in starting to make people aware that not all homosexuals were like Mr. Humphries. %0D %0D They made a stunning couple. Bob always struck me as a guy who wore his heart o his sleeve, and that he was a bit obsessive about Rod. I remember reading when he first saw Rod in the audience of some talk he was giving, he was turned on by Rod's feet - Rod wasn't wearing socks with his shoes. Am I wrong in that? It kind of points to the attraction being about Rod-as-fetish-object. %0D %0D I think it was Bob that had a fling with John Wesley Shipp.

I'd love to see Bob Paris and John Wesley Shipp as a couple.

LOL

One of them exploded and other one was last seen floating down Broadway at Thanksgiving.

@ {R-27} Rod is actually my second cousin on my dads side whom I have never met, if you know of a way to get a hold of him I would love to meet him. I understand that he is now an attorney and I need some legal help.

Bob was cute

Who they?

Sent from my iPhone

R35. WORK A LITTLE HARDER.

Rod Jackson cruised me in a park in Seattle back in '93 or '94. Couldn't believe he was out cruising, let alone cruising a skinny 30-something geek like me.

Then a year or so later, it wasn't exactly a surprise to hear they had split.

Bob still looks good.

Any truth to the story Rod gained 50 pounds,lost most his hair, and is almost unreconizable anymore ?

Will never forget John Wesley's bubble butt on "NYPD Blue."

Bob looks hot. Not as bulky like in his training days, but normal. He was one of the truly handsomest bodybuilders I've ever seen.

Bob!Rod!Bob!Rod!

Any current picture of Rod?

Rod face looks like a ventriliquists dummy

They were the "it" couple before they had a chance to be a real couple. They were giving advice as if they had been together for years when there are so many couples who could give real advice. If they weren't pretty and buff, no one would have cared.

These two were *way* ahead of their time as gay role models. They also brought gay marriage into the public eyes.

But I still think that Herb Ritts nudie/soft core "art" book they did harmed their cause.

Please, R59, "way ahead of their time" as gay role models? They were pretty and buff but not that pretty and buff. Their advice about being a couple was pretty meaningless when they spouted it and even less so when they broke up.

Bob and Rod on Oprah Part 1

Part 2

I actually think Bob looks hotter now than he does in his BB days... he was way "overstuffed" back then, like you would poke him with a needle and all the air would come out.

I assume Bob was the bottom in the relationship.

Paris today. He looks good--maybe not as smoking hot as he did when he was competing and he looked like a comic book hero--but still handsome

They did not practice safe sex with each other, and supposedly they both had issues being faithful. But I had a friend who knew them, and he said that much of their public relationship was a bit of a facade. They were never truly monogamous, and they were much wilder than their public image. Eventually they both got tired of living a lie. It wore on them, and Rod was supposedly never completely comfortable being in the public eye to that extent. They are both nice guys, apparently, and only wanted to support gay youth. But their private life was not the same as the public one, and it got tiresome to lie.

used to run into Rod (Steve) at several sex clubs and baths in LA. Really nice guy ...zero attitude..possible substance abuse issue.

when r66?

Got to know them a bit when they visited D.C. back in the early 1990s. I agree with R65 and R66, they both came off as very nice guys without any discernible attitude.

They took a LOT of flack at the time when their relationship broke up. Gay men viewed them as the perfect couple and Bob and Rod had publicized their relationship. They didn't claim to be perfect though. They wrote their book (which I still have) and appeared on talk shows. They didn't deserve all the flack they got. I agree that their intentions were good. The public can be so fickle.

They were probably the first gay role models of modern times. No wonder they got burned at the stake after their public nice gay couple image crashed and burned.

Fans invest a lot of emotions, time, and energy in their idol worship and feel betrayed when they believe their idol played with their emotions and wasted their time and energy (and money).

Extracted from the Internet Movie Database - running a name search for "Rod Jackson" and found - Miscellaneous Crew (4 titles) 2006 - "For Right or Wrong" (documentary) (assistant accountant)

2000 - "Chain of Fools" (assistant accountant)

2000 - "Picking Up the Pieces" (second assistant accountant)

1999 - "The Deep End of the Ocean" (second assistant accountant)

Thanks* (1 title) 2006 - "Thefts" (short) (special thanks*) ... * whatever this means, it did not explain...

Self (1 title) 1994 - "Straight from the Heart" (documentary short) Himself

The last entry is about gay youth, so this is pretty much a gimme for the Rod Jackson everyone is trying to reference here.

So Rod Jackson, the blonde body beautiful , half of one of gaydom's former best known couples, is an assisstant accountant ? A pencil pusher ? Always imagined him having a construction co., or owning a chain of gyms. You never know where life will take you - into some thrilling, and successful arena, or into the more typical, and mundane.

Anyone know him now ? Any recent pics ?

R72, that was years ago. I heard he is an attorney now.

Just a big guess here R71 but I'm guessing IMDB is wrong.

RE 73 No listing in Bar Asso. in LA , of any Rod Jackson. He really is a mystery man.

why did someone put the name Steve behind Rod's name. Is Rod not his real name?

Paris was not only handsome, his body, while big, was beautifully symmetrical and not freaky like some bodybuilders. Theer was a clip on YouTube from some Alan Thicke talk show from around 1983 and Bob is in his posing strap (and pretending to be straight) and Thicke is almost salivating.

From the book Staright from the Heart, Bob came across as a big teddy bear who was totally in love. Rod came across as an asshole.

One of the stories of what added tension to their relationship was that Paris wanted to get back into competing.

Two hot bodybuilders are not going to remain monogamous for long. There's too much temptation and too many gorgeous men constantly hitting on you.

Bob seemed to have a nice personality and was my favorite. He was just so gorgeous. My younger brother read bodybuilding magazines and Paris stood out as more handsome than the other guys who had bulging eyes and gross necks.

Q: My grand-niece (!) is doing a paper on the fight for gay rights and asked me whatever became of Rod Jackson since his divorce from Bob Paris. A gay buddy in Seattle says that Rod got religion and joined the "ex-gay" movement, which is why they divorced. Do you know of his whereabouts today? – Tom, Decatur, Illinois

A: For gay men of a certain age – not me, mind you, just, uh, older friends of mine – the names Rod and Bob Jackson-Paris are instantly familiar. In 1989, Bob Paris, a former Mr. Universe and Mr. America bodybuilder, married (in a Unitarian service) Rod Jackson, an amateur bodybuilder and Playgirl model. They even hyphenated their names.

Basically, they were sort of an early version of Reichen Lehmkuhl and Chip Arndt.

But keep in mind this was in 1989, when same-sex marriage was basically unheard of. So Bob and Rod’s public announcement, their minor celebrity, and the fact that they were not stereotypically gay, all blended together to create a media frenzy. They even appeared on Oprah.

Eventually, the fame of being out negatively impacted their existing careers, so the pair turned to writing and talking about being gay and – this, perhaps, is what got them into trouble – their abiding love for each other.

When they broke up in 1996, most of us never heard of or thought about them again, despite the fact that – let’s face it – Rod and Bob Jackson-Paris were decades ahead of their time.

So where are they now? Bob lives on an island in British Columbia, writing a novel and the pilot for a TV drama he hopes will be shot in Vancouver, and he still acts, with a small reoccurring role in the new Fox sci-fi series Defying Gravity. He also still models, most recently for the fall 09 Arc’teryx catalog.

Bob Paris today

“I’m busy, grounded and wonderful with all the usual ups-and-downs of life folded in for spice,” he tells the Flying Monkey. Bob now lives with his partner of twelve years, Brian; the couple married legally this time, in 2003, right after BC changed their marriage laws. “We live a quiet life, fully-immersed in our community and our shared love of the outdoors,” Bob says.

But what of Rod and the rumors that he’s become an ex-gay? I queried all the ex-ex-gay experts. “No one I could ask has heard of such a rumor,” David Roberts over at Ex-Gay Watch told me.

Even Bob doesn’t know what’s up with his former partner, and if that’s the reason they split, he isn’t talking. “It’s been many years since I’ve needed to be put in the context of a relationship that ended – what has it been now? Somewhere around fifteen years ago,” he says.

[quote]He also still models, most recently for the fall 09 Arc’teryx catalog.

Guess Arc'teryx can't even afford geezer models anymore...

Quick! Take a look at Bob and Rod on The Oprah Winfrey Show from 1989 before it gets taken down.

Bob seems a very genuine and pleasant guy from what I have seen of him. His body was succulent when he was young, but he never came across as arrogant!

I follow Bob on Facebook, where he occasionally posts poetry and a few comments about his very low key life. I like the guy, but longtime fans will be sad to know he's dropped most of the muscle. He is still clearly in great shape, though.

Bob and his new hubby today. Bob is in orange shirt. Father time hits everyone equally.

Bob is still hot!

Bob is still pretty hot.

Didn't Bob Weider fire Paris? Has he ever apologized to him or made a public statement? I wonder if any of his endorsements apologized to him.

Joe Weider I mean.

I agree Bob looks better now than then.

Bob did it right. Usually ex-body builders go to lard. Instead, he toned.

Rod's whereabouts is still a mystery....

Rod Jackson today.

So is that what happens when a body builder stops the steroids? ALL of that muscle is gone? Wow. Bob is not bad looking today, but there seems to be no evidence he was once hugely muscular.

use it or lose it.

Because of damage to the testicles, testosterone levels can end up being lower than normal, R94. Presumably Paris isn't 'roiding now, but he might benefit from some remedial HRT if his T level is low.

Medical consensus is that the very high anabolic doses used in pro level bodybuilding steroid cycles can cause major heart disease, and I think that's why we've seen more than a few bodybuilders and WWE stars dropping from massive heart attacks. It's an unfortunate situation to be in.

Here's hoping Paris is well and will be with us a very long time.

Bob was a top, I lost my virginity to him. after Bob and Rod broke up.....probably 7 or 8 ish inches thick smaller head. ...his body was still perfect..he was very romantic ..sweet as all get out and a big time kisser. Long story as to how we ended up in bed.

He was a total bottom when I was with him, R97.

r97, we have time for that long story! And r98, I want to hear what you have to say, too!

He's fat!

So, has it been determined what actually happened to Rod?

Perhaps Rod Jackson's story should be posted to the Mysterious Stories and Haunting thread. Whatever happened to him? Some say that the ghost that can be seen roaming the steam room in the old gym in WeHo is his.......

So Bob Paris was the last one to see Rod alive? And now Paris is hiding out in some remote island in Canada? Hmmmmm.

"Celebrity" relationships are different from those of normal human beings. People thought they were a real couple when they were just media whores proclaiming undying love while they diddled on the side.

Today both of them make Ethel Kennedy look good.

Has anyone located Rod Jackson yet??

bump

Bob was perfect. So different from today's young muscle posers he had genuine courtesy and manners.

Merry Christmas to Bob and Rod!

Has he been found?

Rod Jackson is a successful graduate of the Mike Branson School of Law in West Hollywood, and practices law today in Climax, Minnesota.

It is kind of strange how Rod disappeared. There have been rumors that he went to law school, that he became a born again fundie, and that he became a production accountant in the film industry (that part at least is true, he did it briefly). I used to see him out and about in LA and at the gym. He seemed fairly low key. He really does (or at least did) have a beautiful face and body.

Just checking in....any updates on Rod's whereabouts?

He's fine. He's working the counter at Tito's Tacos. He sends his love.

Rod is right here next to me. Sucking my cawk.

Where is Rod?

I only know the secret whereabouts of DL unicorn Michael Schoeffling.

I met them a couple of times in L.A. They were both warm and friendly.

I too would like too know how they are doing now.

Is Rod living in a trailer with Myles O'Keefe?

I thought they ended up in the Tony winning Broadway musical "Avenue Q".

A few years back, there was a pic of Rod on-line. he still had the longish, straight hair plus a grayish beard. Looked nice.

R119 can you find that pic? Link?

They were both bottoms. It's why the marriage didn't last.

Nope, only Bob was the bottom in that relationship.

I’d like to living in a trailer with Miles O’Keefe.

Rod always looked too tight and hard in the face I wonder if he's relaxed a bit and softened up.

Well we would know, R124, if he would ever re-surface and show his face. Where oh where oh where is Rod?

Rod is a monkey face

Wow, I'd forgotten all about these two - they were such a huge phenomenon back then.

Per a simple search Rod L. (Rodney Lynn) Jackson, b. Jul 1961 lives in Palm Springs. One of his associated names is Rodney Jackson Paris...

and it jives with this entry in their book...

This thread started in 2010?!?!?

Yikes, I was the OP on this thread. I’m a real eldergay.

Did he jack his son's rod?