'Queer Eye' Star Karamo Brown Bails on Live Interviews Citing 'Emotional Abuse'

As the "Queer Eye" cast made the morning show rounds Tuesday, Karamo Brown was noticeably absent ... he shocked his castmates by pulling out of the interviews, citing mental and emotional abuse.

Watch the video ... the four hosts try to keep brave faces as "Today" show co-host Sheinelle Jones announces why Brown made his last-minute decision.

Jones said the culture expert's assistant sent an email that read, "Karamo has felt mentally and emotionally abused for years and he's been advised by his therapist to protect himself and his peace by not attending."

While he wasn't there in person, Brown made a virtual appearance in a video message, saying, "Just like the themes of the season, I am modeling what I believe is most important, which I want to remind you all ... Love yourselves and protect yourselves. That's why I'm here at home and not there."

Brown also promised fans they will love "every minute" of the new season -- the show's 10th.

The "Today" interview was just one of the scheduled appearances that Antoni Porowski, Tan France, Jonathan Van Ness and Jeremiah Brent had to tackle shorthanded.

In speaking with "CBS Mornings," Porowski described how he was feeling, saying, “Surprised is a fair understatement. I will say, our 'Queer Eye' family, we’ve been doing this for almost a decade -- which is pretty wild to believe -- and families are complicated and we’re definitely not excluded from that."

He added, "But I think two things can exist at the same time. And while that is definitely true, we’re also here to showcase these incredible heroes we have and really honor the legacy of this past decade of our lives and all these wonderful heroes that we’ve had the blessing of getting to meet and have conversations with.”