‘If you allow someone else’s negativity to affect you, it’s because you forgot that you are fabulous. It’s not my responsibility to make you feel good all the time. That’s your f*cking responsibility! The fact that you’re here is because you’re a star; you’re a f*cking star, and don’t let anybody tell you you’re not. If I had a nickel for every time someone told me, “You’ll never be a star as a drag queen,” I’d have a billion million dollars!’
It’s the last episode of Season 1 of RuPaul’s Drag Race, RuPaul has lost his temper, and I’m lapping up yet another sermon in the Ru church of self-reflection and acceptance. I joined early January. Uncharitable thoughts about how long Daughter No 2 had been on the sofa were interrupted by a larger-than-life creature striding across the screen. Eureka was strutting down the runway in a plus-size pink plaid suit and bright yellow wig, batting her eyelashes at the camera, her breezy sales pitch like an old-school dating site: ‘I’m a be-yourself to-free-yourself kinda queen. I like family time, laughing and all-you-can-eat buffets.’ Entranced by her chutzpah, I paused, long enough to see her step onto the runway as her alter ego, Eufilthior. Wearing thigh-high black boots and green contacts that matched her neon green plaid minidress, ‘evil twin’ Eufilthior pointed at a quivering Eureka and started a litany of abuse: ‘She thinks she’s beautiful and funny, but she’s really a disgusting fat whale who only makes jokes about food and her size.’ It was a visceral attack on the self, a marvellous visual representation of what RuPaul calls the ‘inner saboteur’.
This story is from the September/October 2020 edition of Fairlady.
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This story is from the September/October 2020 edition of Fairlady.
Start your 7-day Magzter GOLD free trial to access thousands of curated premium stories, and 8,500+ magazines and newspapers.
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