Blake Abbie is Bling Empire's Toughest Sweetheart

Bling Empire: New York just debuted on Netflix. What have been the reactions so far?

It came out at 3 a.m. I really need to mute my phone. My friends are texting me, which is really sweet. It’s been an insane week. I’m normally on your side of the equation, so I’m concerned about how I’m presenting myself in these ways. We have absolutely no clue how it’s going to be perceived. I can only be myself–which is hopefully how I come across in the show.

Talk to me about being the only openly queer member of the show.

I’m definitely the only openly queer Asian person in reality shows. It’s a weird position to be in. I don’t necessarily imagine myself to be an activist. My queerness is just only a part of my identity–I don’t think about it. I don’t think about who I’m sleeping with or who I want to date. My work, my life and my friends; that’s what’s important to me. 

How did you want to make that apparent in the show?

I wanted to make it clear with the producers as we were filming that the way they showed my story was as authentic, real and true to my story. I never came out nor had a coming out story. It didn’t really matter to people, I’m not super focused on it. I’m just gonna date whoever I want and be interested in whatever I want. I think that’s really important as a queer person and for the queer community. There are so many narratives that are fed around shame or confusion. I’m open to dating whoever and I’m really hoping that that is clear in the show.

Many older generations, especially in non-Western regions, are very traditional. On and off the show, have you ever had trouble being your true self?

Not really on the show. There were moments when Lynn’s husband, who is in his fifties, abruptly asked me, ‘Are you gay?’ Lynn said, ‘No he’s queer.’ You don’t really ask those kinds of things anymore. But reflecting on that, I guess it’s just different generations that might not get it. Sadly, it’s kind of our responsibility as young people to lead by example. My mom never questions, she just tells me to do my thing and tells me that she wants me to be supported and loved.

How do you balance the show with your acting, modeling and journalist careers?

Since it’s a reality show, we have to kind of live our lives as we live our lives and fit filming around it. I will not say I’m a model…well…I’ve only just recently been a model, I guess. I’m here for it. I write at the magazine and it’s my main gig as a journalist. I’m at-large so I have a really flexible schedule and there’s always ways to patch things together.

You played Thomas in China’s popular show Meteor Garden. How does this contrast to Bling Empire: New York?

Being a scripted show like Meteor Garden, you know what you’re doing the next day. You have to prepare, go on set, rehearse, film and retake. With Bling Empire, there’s none of that. They want to put us on ice. We don’t rehearse, but they say where we’re gonna meet and what we’re gonna do. Oftentimes with the producers, we’ll spend a few hours prior to filming, talking about our lives so they can really understand who we are, what point of view we come from and what kinds of things are coming up in our lives in the next few months so that they can play into what’s always going on.

You’re Canadian with a Chinese mother and Scottish father. What was life like growing up for you?

My dad passed away, which comes up in the show–he grew up in Edinburgh. My mom is Chinese and grew up in Hangzhou–an old capital of China that’s very beautiful. My parents both grew up in dire times. My dad was a lot older than my mom; 26 years older than my mom. He grew up during World War II in Scotland. He had memories of living off of food stamps. My grandfather was working class and I think it’s amazing that he had a painting shop and Sean Connery actually worked for my granddad at one point, which is really funny. My dad didn’t grow up with much because of the war. It was really shitty times in the ‘30s and ‘40s in the UK, but he was really educated. He was brought as an apprentice in a printing shop that led him to working in advertising. He worked his way up. He played professional soccer in Montreal in the ‘50s and ended up working for the Royal Bank and doing advertising for different special projects like the Special Olympics. My dad made his way to the upper middle class.

And your mom?

My mom similarly grew up with absolutely nothing in China. She grew up during the Chinese revolution; a time that was very difficult. It was the ‘60s, during the Great Chinese famine. My family grew up in a one-bedroom house–what every family essentially was given at that time. My parents really succeeded in their lives. My mom eventually met my dad when he went to China for work and he was insanely charming. My mom moved to Canada, opened a store and eventually got her MBA. You know, for someone who at one point had to quit high school to work in a factory was hard for a lot of people. Thankfully, my family wasn’t deeply affected as a lot of families were–like being sent to the country. My mom was forced to work in a factory and she literally opened light bulbs and took out copper filaments to be reused. I’m so appreciative of all the things they’ve done and it’s allowed me to afford a nice, comfortable lifestyle. I’m not a billionaire…let’s be clear.

Because you didn’t grow up a millionaire or billionaire like some of your fellow cast members, did you have any disconnect or any difficulty relating to them?

There are definitely nepo children, children heirs and people who grew up in a lot of wealth. That said, there are people that didn’t–or they did and then lost it. I don’t think we in Bling Empire: New York, and New Yorkers in general, talk about money. We definitely recognize that there are certain class differences. I’m part of the upper middle class. I’m not dumb; I’m educated. I have certain access that a lot of people don’t…some people are a little bit more princessy than others. Some people don’t know how to boil water, some people don’t know how to take the train or just don’t take the train, they don’t know where uptown or downtown is because they just get in cars all the time. That stuff frustrates me because if you’re living in New York, you should be living in New York. Living in New York is experiencing these things.

Can you see yourself getting more into brands and actually living the “bling” lifestyle?

I’m not here to say that I’m not materialistic. I like beautiful things…I love fashion but I’m more interested in smaller or independent brands and their different kinds of stories and perspectives. They’re closer to their producers, they know where things are being made. I also want my money to go to people I care about rather than to corporations ideally.

You’re very multifaceted. Would you ever have expected your life to be this hustling and bustling?

No–but growing up, I had no idea what I wanted to be. At moments I’ve wanted to be a marine biologist, a geneticist, a laryngologist; I was really focused on sciences as a kid. Then I realized I’d been singing my whole life and people would support me and said I should go to music school, so I did. Those four years were up, so I moved to Paris to sing and ended up being taken into fashion. I’m interested in doing amazing projects, working with incredible people, being inspired and constantly learning new things. I get bored easily, so it’s better to have my hands in a lot of spots now.