Arguably the most famous personality in the drag world, RuPaul has made a fantastic career as a
TV producer and host, singer and songwriter. The 60-year-old has always been proudly different and
believing that for any person only the sky is the limit. Vibrant, challenge-prone and risky, he
has also proved that being different often comes alongside controversy and sometimes even scandals.
Today we talk about the real life story of absolutely admirable yet controversial RuPaul.
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Even before he became the pop culture legend, you could tell this little boy had something
big ahead of him. Why so, you might ask? Well, it all started even before he was born.
A psychic told his mother that it's a boy and that he is going to be famous.
“So I grew up knowing that.”
Either it was the mysterious prediction, or the strong belief that Ru lived with,
he seemed to always know he is destined for fame and success. The kid's mom played an important
role in teaching her children acceptance and unconditional love. He told Vogue:
“There was no shade to me playing in makeup, wearing my sisters’ clothes,
doing whatever I wanted to do. I never had to ‘come out,’ because I was never ‘in."
When Ru was just five years old, his parents got divorced following which his mother
Toni fell into a depression. But even despite the hard time she was having, this woman found
strength to keep her fiery spirit and retain her sense of humour. Maybe this is where RuPaul's
iconic sense of humour really comes from! He explained to Contemporary Black Biography:
"At 5 years old I realized I was a superstar
trapped in a five-year-old’s body. And I had to do something about that!”
Ru's love for freedom apparently didn't match well with having to attend school on a regular basis.
So, he was kicked out of high school in the 11th grade due to persistent truancy. He later
attended another school near Georgia, Atlanta, where he’d moved with his sister Renetta to
study the performing arts. But if you think that one ended in graduation, you are so, so wrong.
Ru's own music career officially started in the early eighties with
his band called Wee Wee Pole, they performed in various celebrity clubs.
Ru could do pretty much everything: solo singing, bar dancing,
backup signing. Soon he recorded his first album called Sex Freak which he would later regret.
After moving to New York and living in the Meatpacking District, RuPaul was surviving on
free popcorn from the Film Forum. And that's when he was featured as a dancer in Love Shack and when
he released the single "Supermodel" which ended up reaching 45 on the Billboard Hot 100 in 1993.
At the time there was literally NO ONE like him in mainstream culture.
RuPaul's goal was not to shock, but to challenge. At the same time he started
building his career on TV and quickly landed his own talk show called The RuPaul Show,
interviewing celebrity guests and musical acts. So, by the time he came up with the idea of the
competition series RuPaul's Drag Race, Ru had all it took to impress the audience.
He sold the show in his very first pitch meeting. VH1 bought the show right off
the bat and it has been on air since 2009. Over a decade already! Can you believe it?
By the way, not many know that RuPaul was obsessed with hot rods and drag racing when he was younger.
He still keeps tweeting the pictures of classic dream cars from time to time.
Another sensational and barrier-breaking thing involving RuPaul occurred in the
mid 90s when he became the first drag queen to land a major cosmetics campaign.
It was a contract with MAC Cosmetics that made him the first headliner of their Viva
Glam line of lipsticks with 100% of proceeds going to the MAC AIDS Fund.
MAC co-founder Frank Toskan explained that at the time they didn't want to employ standards and
tactics used by other beauty brands, considering them to be limiting rather than liberating.
Speaking about the collaboration with RuPaul, Toskan said:
“People thought we were absolutely crazy at a time when other brands
were using Elizabeth Hurley and Isabella Rossellini"
He added that some conservative departments even refused to display the campaign featuring
RuPaul as they worried about their image. Well they shouldn't have,
the campaign was a huge success and gave a good wake-up call for the whole industry.
And for RuPaul it would be just one of his numerous achievements. In 2017,
the star host was included in Time Magazine’s list of the 100 most influential people on the planet.
And next year RuPaul made history as the first drag queen to receive a star on the Hollywood
Walk of Fame. To which Ru joked that he deserved a star three times the size of a normal one.
Was it a joke though? In his acceptance speech he characterised receiving a star
as the most important moment in his professional career.
However, something controversial also happened in 2018 and in the center of that controversy was
RuPaul and his remarks. When asked to comment on whether transgender woman can compete on
RuPaul’s Drag Race, he said he would “probably not” let trans women compete on his TV show.
“You can identify as a woman and say you’re transitioning, but it changes once you start
changing your body. It takes on a different thing; it changes the whole concept of what we’re doing.”
RuPaul faced serious backlash from the trans community over his hurtful comments, following
which he even issued one of his rare apologies. He expressed regret over the pain he caused.
It was not his first clash with the trans community, though. In 2012,
RuPaul defended his right to use the word tranny denying its derogatory connotation.
“I love the word ‘tranny.”
He added that people who insist on banning the word are (quote) "fringe
people who are looking for story lines to strengthen their identity as victims".
A couple of years later there was another incident with the trans community regarding
yet one more term many people consider a slur in the name of fun used during RuPaul's Drag
Race. The host was annoyed by the negativity his wording caused and once again reinstated his idea:
"...if you are trigger-happy and you’re looking for a reason to reinforce your own victimhood…
you’ll look for anything that will reinforce that.”
So, it would be fair to say that RuPaul has always felt free to express himself the way he felt
and share his opinion on various issues. It is one of the things that has led him to success
and that has caused a serious stir on numerous occasions.
This is the RuPaul we see in public, but if as far as his private life is concerned,
the drag star is notoriously tight-lipped about it. He has known his husband,
Georges LeBar since 1994, but the two married only in 2017.
And guess what? According to RuPaul, Georges doesn't care about show business at
all. He is often away from Hollywood working on his ranch in Wyoming,
which is why he is not usually with RuPaul for the red carpet events.
But the two definitely have an extremely beautiful and unconventional relationship formula which they
developed for their couple. RuPaul has always been candid about being in an open marriage with LeBar.
“I wouldn’t want to put restraints on the person I love the most on this planet. Listen,
if you get something that you cannot resist and that is gonna make you happy, go for it."
He added that for them it is all about trust and freedom, and it works. According to the
drag star, he loves Georges like no one else on this planet and he is sure that he is loved back.
In this marriage, both partners are nonconformists who refuse to follow
someone else's rules just because that someone might label their relationship as controversial.
And this is basically the story of RuPaul's entire life.
Being one of the most famous performers and TV personalities alive, RuPaul has built a
net worth estimated at 60 million dollars. The past several years particularly good for
the world top drag queen. In 2018, RuPaul sold a home he had previously purchased for $2.5 million
for twice its original value. Soon he bought a huge mansion in Beverly Hills for $13.7 million.
Meanwhile, RuPaul has no intention to rest on the laurels even though he could, with all the
money he has earned. Drag Race season 13 is set to premiere on New Year’s day. The new season is
going to be with a jaw-dropping twist which is taking the competition to the whole new level:
the new crop queens will immediately be fighting for their lives in a six-way lip sync.
And that's still not all as far as premieres are concerned. The first episode of the
highly-anticipated RuPaul’s Drag Race U.K. is set to air on January 14. It looks like
thanks to RuPaul 2021 will be the year of Queens. And we are looking forward to it!
That's all for today! Thanks for watching!