Watching an episode of “Watch What Happens Live,” featuring Ru Paul, we were tipped off by Bravo Andy of an in-depth New York Times article covering the entertainer’s path to stardom and his second act via his successful show, “Drag Race,” which returns for its sixth season this Monday. Some of the tastier nuggets:
He grew up with three sisters in California and was obsessed with the Supremes (which, yes! to this day you can see their spirit inhabits his drag style).
At 15, he moved to Atlanta with his sister and then headed to New York City in 1987. His first big public moment was an appearance in the B-52’s “Love Shack” video. “Supermodel” was released in 1992.
He believes there are only two types of people in the world: “There are the people who understand that this is a matrix and then there are the people who buy it lock, stock and barrel. Drag culture and witch doctors and shamans — they deal with the hoax by making fun of it,” (hello-team-Matrix-obvs!)
And this shockingness in response to discussion over whether drag is that big of a deal anymore: RuPaul has never been invited on the “Tonight Show” or David Letterman. (#what!!)
He also points out that his MAC glam ads were never featured in Vogue and says this about Anna Wintour: “[The ad] would be the antithesis of what their message is. Anna Wintour is a very smart woman. She’s a Scorpio, like me.”
Best and truest quote: “I lived through the ’60s and the ’70s and the mentality to question authority, the anti-establishment, anarchy idea I grew up with, those kids don’t have that. They want to look exactly like Beyoncé and Britney Spears. I’m like: ‘No! Be yourself. ”
Read the entire article here.
