Oprah and RuPaul, together again. Can I get an “Amen”? The two icons sat down together for an interview for the February issue of O Magazine. In keeping with the issue’s theme of “What Defines You?” the Emmy and Critics Choice Award-winning Ru chatted with the Queen of All Media about “life, liberty and the pursuit of fabulous” and it’s just as wonderful as you think a talk between Ru and Oprah would be.
Oprah confessed to Ru that she knew he was “my kind of human” when she first heard him utter his classic line “We’re born naked and the rest is drag.” When Oprah acknowledges that “Drag really applies to all of us. It’s whatever we put on after we get out of the shower, right?” Ru answers “Absolutely,” adding “If you have the power to control how people see and interpret you, why not use it?” Here are some additional highlights from the interview:
RuPaul on what defines him: At this moment? I’m everything and nothing at all. I’m black, I’m white, I’m male, female. To me, seeing all the facets of yourself is the next level of our evolution—understanding who we really are.
RuPaul on discovering drag: You know, I’m an opportunist and a show-off, so I knew show business would be my path. I didn’t know how it would work, but I kept an open mind. Then I was in bands in Atlanta, and drag sort of happened to us. It was very different from the kind I do now—it was punk rock, with combat boots and smeared lipstick. But I knew I had power in drag because of the reaction I got from people.
RuPaul on the belief that we’re all in drag, in some form or another: If you have the power to control how people see and interpret you, why not use it?
RuPaul on working on positivity: I work at it every day. All those inspirational things I say to contestants on the show, those pep talks, I’m actually saying them to myself. I also try to laugh as much as possible. There’s a scene in The Witches of Eastwick where all three women start levitating because of laughter. That’s the most powerful spell you can cast. The most difficult choice I make every day is to be engaged, choose love, and not succumb to darkness. Because it’s always in my peripheral vision.
RuPaul on why drag is resonating so strongly at the moment: It shows people that everything’s temporary. It’s just clothes, paint, powder. Drag is like fame: It doesn’t hide you. It reveals who you are. Drag can help you understand what you are, how amazing it is to have a human body, and what you can do with it.
Some video clips of Ru and Oprah’s interview are also on Oprah’s Super Soul Sunday page on YouTube, like this one, when Oprah tells Ru that she believes he doles out spiritual advice on Drag Race. He notes that “We set up the situation on this competition reality show where we challenged them [the contestants] to go beyond their own limited perception of themselves,” adding, “The real challenge is for them to be willing to die and become reborn.” Check it out below:
