In the wake of the tragic news of Whitney Houston's death this past weekend the gays definitely needed a pick-me-up. Luckily the Grammy's were on Sunday night and the third episode of this season's RuPaul's Drag Race aired on Monday. Every gay in America (along with a handful of lesbians and a few heteros) took time away from their Whitney: Greatest Hits album to check in with a few of their favorite drag queens.
This week Ru gave yet another shameless plug for her music (available on iTunes) and had her girls film infomercials advertising each song. Unfortunately The Princess did not do enough to wow the judges and was told to sashay away. Joe Drake caught up with her royal highness to talk about her trademark tattoos, who she thinks is the only queen that can top Raja (last year's champion) and found how she got her abnormal name.
OLOGY: Hi! How are you?!
THE PRINCESS: I am fabulous. How are you?
I’m great. Can I call you Princess, or should I call you The Princess?
Usually they only put “The” in front of it when I’m being announced on stage, but in a one-on-one conversation “Princess” is fine.
Perfect. How did the name come about?
Oh my goodness. When I was a prissy, prim and proper little gay boy, y’know, very, very princess like. It drove my roommate nuts! So he would be like, “You’re such a princess! You’re such a princess!” and all that stuff. Well, then we both started doing drag at the same time, and literally it came time to do the show and I didn’t have a name and when I was about to walk on stage, they were like, “We need to call you something. We need to announce you as something. What are we going to call you?” And I was like, “Everybody already calls me Princess anyway, so just call me Princess.” And then it just stuck. And then a few years later I added “The” to it, because I hated when people would say, “Please welcome to the stage, Miss Princess!” That sounds stupid. So, it sounds so much better when you say, “Welcome to the stage, The Princess!” Now I’m not so prim and proper, I’m kind of the exact opposite of, y’know, your Disney princess. Tattoos and piercings and all that stuff. So it kind of takes on that juxtaposition.
Absolutely, I love that. How did those piercings and the tattoos come about?
Y’know, ever since I was of legal age and my parents couldn’t do anything about it I got my first tattoo, and then it all downhill from there, so...
That’s what I hear. It is quite addicting. I have no piercings and no tattoos, but I find guys who have them to be incredibly sexy.
Oooh, yeah. I definitely don’t recommend getting once, because like I said, once you start you can’t stop.
Absolutely. So, how do you feel the day after? How does it feel to have watched your elimination episode?
It was kind of surreal. People have been asking, to add on to that question, people have been asking, “What is it like to watch yourself on TV?” And it’s kind of like watching a best friend, y’know, that somebody that you’re rooting for. I don’t see it as myself. I’m like, “I like that guy! I like what he’s giving, I like what he’s doing, I’m vibing with him,” type thing. I don’t see it as, “Oh, that’s weird, that’s me in there.” I didn’t even look at it like that. But then, not until last night when I was kicked off did it really hit home that I was like, “Oh my god! You lived that, you went through that.” So, to answer your question, I feel amazing! Beloved. The support from all the fans has been amazing from Twitter and Facebook and all that stuff, it’s been absolutely amazing. I couldn’t be more overwhelmed with joy right now. But it was a little surreal watching that, like, “Damn, I did get kicked off, didn’t I?”
You had a good run on the show. Only a few episodes, but you made quite an impact I thought.
I hope so. I hope that I showed that, y’know, to mainstream America, especially if you’re not in a gay society I think that there’s a certain stereotype with drag queens. That they’re loud and obnoxious and, yeah, probably 99% of them are, but there’s a small percent of us that are just calm, cool, and collected, and just do it for the simple art form of it. Not for any other reason than just wanting to have this thing inside you that needs to come out, and for me that’s what it is. It’s not about being catty with anyone else. And I realize, and maybe I’m answering your question that’s coming up, but that’s part of the game of this show. They’re looking for somebody with that outlandish personality. And not that I’m lacking personality, it’s just not what they were looking for. So, I totally get how the game is played.
Do you think that it takes a little bit of sass and a little bit of talking back to win this game? You seemed a little quiet compared to the other girls. Do you think you were a little too calm, or were you confident with the way you went about it?
I do think that it takes beyond sass to win the competition, for sure. They have to sell ad space, and what sells ad space more than drama? I’m glad that I stayed true to myself and what’s even more awesome to me is that people recognized that. People recognized that I’m not going to throw out the name calling and all that stuff just to get that extra camera time. I’m glad I can come home and say, “That was me. All I was doing was doing it for me. I wasn’t doing it for any other reason or anybody else.”
That’s great. You had a really distinct look throughout the show. I mean, last night’s runway was beautiful. You chose not to wear a wig, you had the hood (which RuPaul also had on) and I thought the whole look was spectacular. Were you confident with the way the runway turned out?
How do you mean? With how I looked overall?
Yeah. I thought you had one of the best looks, so I was surprised to see that you were put in the bottom two. Because I thought when you came out with that hood and you chose not to wear a wig, it made a statement.
Oh, no, I completely agree. I think I had one of the better looks. It was clean, it was polished. Some of those outfits out there were hot, shitty messes. It was evident, it was so clear that they were messes, and they were backstage and in the workroom they were falling apart, they were this and that and the other thing. And for me to walk out there, clean and polished and very statuesque and giving them this kind of like Grace Jones meets Jennifer Lopez body type, y’know, I was giving them that. And for them to turn their nose up at it? That just goes back to what I was saying before. Michelle Visage even said that I was flat. And what she meant was that, I’m not being outspoken enough, I’m not putting on a show other than my drag. And that’s what they want to see. So, again, I totally understand that they want somebody to be flamboyant and in your face. And my flamboyantness comes out in my look, in my drag.
Absolutely. It sounds like you have a really good head on your shoulders. You sound very confident with the way you do drag. You might not be outrageous like Sharon or as outspoken as Jiggly, but I think your style works for you. And I think that it’s important to listen to yourself.
Oh, completely! I want people to know I am not a one hit wonder. I’m not one note. I have multiple things that I can offer, whereas some of the other girls, they’re one note. All they do is pretty, or all they do is whatever they’re doing. And what’s going to get them through is their craziness or the running of their mouths.
I think it is pretty obvious who those girls are. Who do you want to win, or who do you think will win?
Oh my goodness! That’s such a tossup. This is what I’ve been telling people so far. Last year’s winner was Raja. How do you top Raja? Raja was, y’know, that androgynous, whatever she had going on, I can’t even label it. Raja was Raja, and that’s what I liked about her, because I saw a lot of myself in her. Because you can’t really put a label on what we do. And then, so how are you going to top that? How are you going to top last year’s winner? And it’s a simple math equation, it has GOT to be Sharon Needles. How can it NOT be Sharon?
Well, you had an altercation with her last night, are you guys on good terms now? Tell me a little bit about what happened.
Y’know, and she spelled it out for you, you didn’t get to see that entire conversation that happened on the runway when RuPaul went down the line and said, “Who would you kick out?" And then for Sharon to come along and say, “I would say The Princess because she doesn’t change her voice.” I’m sorry, that is the most asinine thing that you could say about any queen. Why does a queen have to change her voice? That has nothing to do with it. Just because you change your voice as a queen doesn’t mean that I have to. And I said that in the Interior Illusions Lounge, it’s like, who are you to tell me how to do my drag? Drag can be any way you want, in many ways. She may be kooky and funny, but people are going to stand there and go, “What the fuck is going on?” Whereas I, I accept everybody for who they are. I’m that tree hugger. I love everybody and all that stuff. So, yeah, to answer your question, are we cool? Yes. The last time I saw her was at the premiere in LA. She is an awesome person and I wish her the best. I really think she’ll be one of the front runners.
Unfortunately we are running out of time. I'm curious, what do you want your drag legacy to be? Now that you’ve told me a little bit about how you came to be and your individuality. What do you want your drag legacy to be to the upcoming queens in the world?
Oh my goodness, I would want it to be stay true to yourself. It may not get you far on TV, but staying true to yourself is going to get you further in the long run of life. For sure.
Amen! Well thank you so much for talking to me. It was a pleasure. I thought you did fantastic this season.
Thank you. And can I tell you, you are probably the best interviewer so far! Everybody else is kind of lackluster, and your phone voice is awesome, so thank you so much Joe! I really appreciate it.
Wow. Thank you so much! Made my day...
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Follow Joe Drake on Twitter: @JoeDrakeNYC
Follow The Princess on Twitter: @TheDragPrincess
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