One year, my parents hired someone in the village to dress up as Krampus for a surprise visit to our home - and they regretted it for ever. I went to the door and this huge creature was standing there. I think I passed out.
— Conchita Wurst
It's easy to say, 'This is just a joke.' You know, the bearded lady? And I feel the need to smash it with every performance just because I want to be clear this is not a joke.
Conchita is a symbol of the fact that you just can live a wonderful life when you do what makes you happy.
Dressing as a woman meant I began to accept my body, and I enjoyed seeing women get jealous. They ask me how I get my waist this size; how I manage to walk in heels as if I've done it all my life.
I love women. I grab every inspiration I can from women and for me it's a bit of fun.
I love myself and the bearded lady is fun and expresses everything I feel.
I can always spot an Australian queen by her high, high end wig. Australian drag queens have the best hair in the world - the best.
The beard is a statement to say that you can achieve anything, no matter who you are or how you look.
I am not a team player. I will not share the stage with anyone.
I didn't invent the bearded lady. It's been around for ages, and there are so many bearded drag queens out there - but they're not in the mainstream as I am.
I was actually a very confident little kid. I would go to kindergarten in a skirt.
People only look at my beard for a moment. Then it melts away and it's just another part of me. It's like the most natural thing, that this is what a bearded lady looks like. It's beautiful to see.
It's just unbelievable that nearly every gay human being knows who I am now - that's overwhelming.
If you've got the chance to really speak your mind and do what you feel and express yourself how you want, then this is freedom. Drag is freedom.
The private person Tom Neuwirth and the art figure Conchita Wurst respect each other from the bottom of their hearts. They are two individual characters with their own individual stories, but with one essential message for tolerance and against discrimination.
I'm not that powerful to take out the masculinity of a beard.
It's my music. If it's not good enough, then that's how it will be.
But yes, I really feel great in Austria, I love my home and Vienna is just the best place to be.
Because of the discrimination during my time as a teenager I decided to live my life as I want it.
I prefer to do my own make-up.
I don't focus on negativity, I focus on the good things.
I don't see myself as someone you should look up to.
We Europeans really have the picture of this very open-minded Australia.
If people really want to know whether I am a woman or transsexual, I take it as a compliment. It means I'm doing my job well.
Expectations are dangerous. I recommend not having any, if only to avoid disappointment.
I love huge dramatic songs with ridiculously big orchestral parts.
I am happy being a man in a dress. Some people get confused and think I'm a trans woman, but I'm strict about the difference. What I do is performance, it's staged, it's glamour - it's not real life. But for trans people, being born in the wrong body - there's nothing glamorous or easy about that.
The main topic I'm always talking about is equality, and I get that it's politics, but it shouldn't be. It should be the most normal thing ever. There's bullying and discrimination about the colour of your skin, your religion. And it must end.
I'm not perfect, I just do what I think is right. So if I can't fulfil people's expectations, I'm sorry, but it's not my fault.
I started out as being a diva in a golden dress and now to a more bearded drag artist guy in boots.
I'm jealous, I'm moody, I'm really not good to be around as a boyfriend.
I don't understand why people spend so much time thinking about me if they don't like what I do. I couldn't care less about things I don't like.
I'm not the biggest fan of my first album.
I always say that tolerance doesn't depend on a country, because there is hate everywhere.
When I'm standing in front of all those lawmakers in the European Parliament, then I'm a speaker, when I'm singing, I'm a singer. If I'm on the catwalk, then I'm being a model. That can all happen in one week or even on the same day.
I'm a drag artist, and we put so much effort into creating characters, so the easiest way to show us respect is to call us by the name we gave ourselves and refer to the gender we have chosen to be on stage.
Being a teenager in a small Austrian village was not fabulous. I tried to fit in and changed myself to be part of the game. I now realise I can create the game.
It is an honour and it's flattering that people refer to me as someone they trust or get inspired from.
Being a teenager, a gay teenager, in such a small village is not that much fun. I am part of the gay community and most gays have a similar story to mine.
I have a very busy life, and I love meeting people, but I also like to be alone.
Over the years I've realised that there's nothing wrong with me. But there was a long way for me to go to get back to this loud and outgoing kid, and to get to the point where I could say, 'Yeah, I'm gay, so what?'
The first song I remember listening to in a language other than German was 'Goldfinger,' by Shirley Bassey. I was seven years old at the time and I had no idea which language it was or who the lady was singing it, but it touched me and I realised that it was the sort of music I liked.
There's a big difference between when I'm Tom and when I'm Conchita. Conchita uses very proper German; Tom talks in an Austrian dialect. Conchita gets mad if she is kept waiting; Tom is lazy.
I've figured out over the years, you can only hurt me if I love you; if I don't know you, I really don't care.
I think that anyone who is in any way creative or is creating something, whether an architect or fashion designer, I think if you have the opportunity to create something that is fully you, it frees your mind and your spirit and gives you the opportunity to really find yourself.
It was a huge honour to play at the Palladium with the BBC Concert Orchestra.
I see myself as quite boring and simple.
