Terry Miller, America’s first Tom of Finland ambassador, explains how he went from a slim, stay-at-home dad to leather daddy icon

Words Markus Bidaux 

Photography Roman Robinson Location Pacific Northwest Fitness in Seattle, WA

Tom of Finland’s drawings of muscular men look almost too good to be true — until you lay your eyes on Terry Miller, a walking, talking Tom of Finland model. Although he just turned 50, he recently started entering body-building competitions — he has no plans to slow down. Here, he discusses his metamorphosis from being slim with a pair of “bird arms” to sculpting the limbs of an Adonis, as well as the joys of strutting his stuff at leather events and his life with sexadvice columnist Dan Savage.

Were you active in your youth?

I was super scrawny. I have a picture of me when I was 18 years old and I had what I called “bird arms”; they were like sticks with little hands at the end. I was not very muscular or fit and I didn’t do any sports as a kid.

I saw a video of you doing a tour of the Tom of Finland House in LA and in it you mentioned that you discovered Tom of Finland in your teens. Did that experience inspire you to physically emulate his art?

I saw his stuff in my teens and then I would see it more at gay bars when I was out and in gay publications in my early 20s. I didn’t really think about emulating it until a little bit later, but it was always like, that’s the ideal for me.