Ross Mathews & Dr. Wellinthon Garcia-Mathews Chat Their New Children’s Book!

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Love is in the air for Ross Mathews and Dr. Wellinthon Garcia-Mathews! The couple have just released their first children’s book, “Tio & Tio,” inspired by their young nephews’ experience as their wedding ring bearers. Below, we caught up with the Mathews’ on their book’s beginnings and creative process, outfits getting the RuPaul stamp of approval, and a special surprise on the horizon this summer!

Was writing a children’s book something you were always interested in doing? Ross Mathews: I was always open to writing a children’s book, because I like to create. I never have hard “No’s” when it comes to creating stuff! I’m always like, “Maybe.” But when I met Wellington, fell in love, and got married…his passion is education. It’s what his doctorate is in. He’s a leader in education, and with his knowledge of kids, it was a no-brainer, especially when we found our inspiration.

Dr. Wellinthon Garcia-Mathews: For me, it was always a bucket-list item. I’ve always wanted to be one of those authors. One of the reasons why I really wanted to, push us to do this was also because, as an educator, someone who’s in front of the classroom, sometimes with children, there was never books about us. I felt like this was the opportunity to have those windows and those mirrors. To have our children be able to feel like they see themselves in this actual story, and also just a window or perspective outside, so that I can see something different.

What was it like working with your husband? What was the creative process like? Wellinthon: Ross is such a natural storyteller, especially when he does his blogs and all of the things that he’s currently involved with. It was exactly what I expected from him, to just be a natural. He’s a king when it comes to puns, so it was great to see that creativity coming across and into the pages. Of course, he’s really good at taking feedback. We’re going back and forth, “Well, maybe we should add this, maybe we should change this,” and just open to it all. So, it was very enlightening. I think it made us stronger.

Ross: Oh, yeah! Look. Here’s the deal. We just finished a big renovation on the house, and we didn’t fight once during that process. If you can survive that, you can partner on anything together. The book was a breeze. Honestly, it was a joy to write together. I love creating and telling stories. Seeing Wellinthon apply his doctor brain to it after all these years in the classroom, knowing how kids learn, knowing how teachers read these kind of books to kids with takeaway and call and response, how parents read these books to kids, was a whole learning process for me, because I know how to tell a story, beginning, middle, end, suspense, cliffhanger, pay off. But Wellington taught me that there’s so much more. When writing a children’s book, there’s more opportunities to have conversations, to have places where educators parents can pause and talk about it, can have real takeaway, and that for me, as a creative person, was brand-new. I loved it. I loved seeing him apply his expertise to this process. I have to say, it was a turn-on. When your husband’s great at something, when your person is an expert in their field, watching them do their thing astounds me.

Tell us what you can about the story of the book. Ross: It’s the story of our wedding and our nephew’s role at our wedding. They were our ring bearers, which we thought was sort of a simple job. You know, “How cute, ask the boys if they’ll be the ring bearers.” I don’t think either one of us thought much more of the process than that, but when we witnessed them on our wedding day, that’s where the origin story for the book came from. I’ll have Wellington tell you what he saw that day.

Wellinthon: At the wedding, they were just so nervous. They were rehearsing and practicing how to walk in unison. I just saw that opportunity as a learning experience for not only them, but for us to say, “Wow, they’re taking this so serious.” They really want to do a great job for us. They showed up. They flew all the way to Mexico to be there. It just, for me, signified how important children are. So, [it’s] our love story in terms of ensuring that they were there to represent us and be willing to be part of that ceremony.

Obviously with two gay characters featured, the book will be banned in certain libraries. What would you say to people who want to ban the book? Ross: The first answer is, if you think you have a problem with this book, I encourage you to read it first, because it’s not even about us. It’s about two little kids, two little boys who want to matter to their family, who want to show up and and whose presence and intention at an important family event didn’t go unnoticed, and, in fact, was celebrated. That’s my first answer. My second answer is, then don’t read it! I don’t care. By the way, that is 100% how both of those answers are, 100% how I feel. That dual reality that can exist. I can feel both of those things, and I really do feel them.

There’s a character named Drew in the book based on Drew Barrymore who was a flower girl at your own wedding. What was her reaction be being featured in the book? Ross: I was planning my wedding, and she asked me if we were going to have a flower girl, and I was like, “Why, you want the gig?” And she was like, “Rossy, are you serious?” I was like, “Are you serious?” She’s like, “I’d be honored.” I was like, “You got that, you got it. Girl, you’re hired.” But I never, in my core, never really believed that it would happen. I was fully prepared to tell her, “It’s fine, you don’t have to show up and be the flower girl. You don’t have to fly to Puerto Vallarta.” But the whole time, the year of planning, she kept saying, “I’m going to be there. I’m coming.” And she did. She showed up. She mattered to our family, and we really are family. When we were writing the book, we wanted to have the children’s book be a real, true reflection of what happened, but it was bizarre as we were writing it to have a movie star as the flower girl. So we thought, what if we just made her a little girl? What if we just made so she wasn’t yet a global superstar, and she was just Drew, because that’s who she is to us. But the essence of who Drew is is absolutely in the book. She’s effusive and loving, and she shows up, and she’s a good human and she was just thrilled to be part of it. She actually was just like, “Oh my god, of course, I can’t wait.” She wanted to write the foreword. When I asked her, “We’re writing the book, we have a little girl in it. Would you write the foreword?” She said, “I stopped reading your text halfway through. The answer is yes. Oh my god, you’re writing a children’s book!” and just 10,000 exclamation points.

What was the message that you wanted to get across in the book? Ross: After the wedding, Wellington said, “I saw the boys practicing,” and we thought “That was so sweet.” We were talking about why it was so sweet, why it touched us. Why did it touch us? Because there was such power in them showing up and delivering for their family, even though they were so young. Thinking about that part of the story resonated, because I, as a kid, I always just wanted to matter. And guess what? As a grown-up, I just want to matter. That never changes. You just want to be seen. You want to have a contribution. We thought, “What a universal message that is for anybody, to say, ‘As long as you show up, as long as you contribute to your family, you matter.'” It sounds so simple, but it really is a much larger conversation and a much larger lesson. But that’s the best thing about kid’s books, right? They can have these little things, these little stories that happen, that have monumental meanings.

How did you find the illustrator? Wellinthon: We had the publisher find Tommy Doyle. He’s amazing. He’s from Australia, and his illustrations that we’ve seen from prior work that he’s done really stood out to us. We just felt like, “This is exactly it.” It was important for me to make sure that our nephews were…it’s hard to do actual, real-life, human people in a cartoonish way. It was important to us to ensure that we kept integrity to that, but also brought whimsical humor to it all. He really captured it, and we gave him a lot of good photographs that allowed it to be so vibrant in the illustrations.

Ross: He’s also a queer artist, and that was important to us. We wanted to find somebody who understood where we came from, and also support another queer artist. That was important. So, everybody that we looked at from all over the globe—and we looked at a bunch of different illustrators—Tommy’s illustrations had a light and a vibrance and a whimsy about them, but they were also based in reality. That was important, because it’s the true story. It wasn’t just important to us, [but also] the boys, our nephews. They had carte blanche, veto power on everything, from storyline to illustration. They gave us extensive notes on the first draft! We applied them all, and the illustrations are one of my favorite aspects of the book. Sometimes I just open it and look at it. I don’t even read our words, because it brings me right back to the wedding.

You are still on Drew’s talk show every day. When do you wind down for the season and what has the experience being on the show been like? Ross: We tape the traditional talk show schedule, which is end of August or September, and you shoot all the way until the end of May. It’s like a school schedule. Talk shows have been like that since the beginning of time, and that’s how it is. The experience is amazing. I grew up always loving daytime TV. I watched it with my mother—she had summers off, she worked for the school district, so we would watch Live with Regis and Kathie Lee, and she would be so happy. I always wanted to interview celebrities. I remember being seven years old and thinking, “That’s the job I should get, because I can interview celebrities, and it makes my mom happy.” Since that age, I’ve had this North Star on daytime television. I’ve been on television now almost 24 years, [and] I knew one day I would get to daytime. Now we are in season five, going to season six. It’s really, truly a dream come true.

What are your summer plans? Wellinthon: We should just let the cat off the bag, right?

Ross: Here’s the deal. We are not going anywhere, because I need a break. We both need a break! We’re going to stay at the house here, hang in the pool, and we’re going to spend the summer writing the second book, the next adventure in the Tio and Tio series. Gayle King surprised us with the publisher to let us know that they picked up a second book! So, we already have the concept. We know it’s going to be a continuation of following the boys as they grow up a little bit, and we continue being their uncles and navigate how to best support them and love them and encourage them. That’s what we’re going to do this summer.

Since we are a fashion outlet, we should ask. What designers do you love and wear? Ross: I’m a big fan of Kirkland brand, and I buy it at Costco. Sort of kidding! I sit next to RuPaul and Michelle Visage on the panel on RuPaul’s Drag Race, and that’s a lot of pressure. I’ve been on the show over a decade, now 12 years, and I’ll tell you right now, you can’t just swing through the outlet mall and grab something. You’re gonna sit with them. I’m lucky that I partner with an extraordinary Canadian designer named Ross Mayer, and we, for the past five or six years, have partnered on all my looks. It’s a collaboration. We call it Ross by Ross, because he’s a Ross as well. So, everything I wear on Drag Race is available for purchase. All of our clothes are so chic and so fabulous, but also stretchy, because I my body is never the same size for one day the next. You don’t have to iron it. It’s really fabulous stuff. I think “fabulous” and “affordable” and “comfortable” are words that never go together, but I don’t know why they don’t. I think it’s possible. Every day we work together, Ross Mayer and I, we’re trying to find that balance. I will say, when I wear something on set, and Ru Paul says, “Is this yours?” And I say yes, he’s like, “Oh, it’s fabulous.” I send it to him, and he always wears it. So, it has the Ru Paul stamp of approval!

Wellinthon: I love his design. Anytime we do some red carpet events, I’m always wearing Ross by Ross.

Ross: I’ve never told anybody this. I covered the Met Gala last year, and Anna Wintour was mid-sentence talking to somebody, and then she stopped and turned to me and said, “I love your jacket.” So, anyway, that’ll be on my tombstone!

Are you coming back to fashion shows at NYFW soon? Ross: Absolutely. Fashion is art. It’s another form of art. In addition to being an artist—and I have been my entire life—I am a connoisseur of art. I think as it fuels you, it fuels your creativity. Sometimes, when I am totally stuck on something and I can’t get through a block, I know that I need to dive deep into art. I need to find something that inspires me. The fuel that keeps an artist’s flame alive is other artists being inspired.

Thank you for chatting with us! Ross: If you mention Kirkland, I can get you a Costco membership! I can hook you up. You buy in bulk, it’ll change your life. You can also find a wide-leg, pleated khaki as well. Go nuts!

All images: Courtesy of Ross Mathews and Dr. Wellinthon Garcia-Mathews

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