I moved to New York City in the '80s to be an actress and to be on Broadway. That was always my dream.
— Michelle Visage
I was a theater major, and I remember being in college, and whenever my professor would assign me songs that I hated, I really had a hard time singing them. One time, I even faked sick so I wouldn't have to sing a song.
I am just forthcoming - completely blunt and honest.
For red-carpet gowns, Christian Siriano is one of my favourites.
My mother was incredible.
When I grew up where I grew up, things were very, very different, and nobody had a filter. And that's what brought us together.
You can't get anything gayer than 'RuPaul's Drag Race!'
Life is the greatest teacher.
As an adopted kid, it means a lot when I hear women say, 'I don't want kids.' I have a lot of respect for them.
There are different types of people in this world, and I am the type of person who loves to give.
I got involved in the underground world known as ballroom culture, and I used to walk a category called 'face,' and it was a very heavily Latino culture - it's black and Latino - and they used to call me 'cara,' which means face in Spanish, so I started putting 'cara' on everything: hats, jackets.
I always felt ,like, I'll leave autobiographies to the people who are kind of iconic.
There's only RuPaul.
I get tons of emails every day from a lot of gays and young girls asking for help with their self-confidence and to heal and to feel. Even though I'm not an equipped social worker, I think the mom presence that I have makes them feel safe.
When you go into a show, you pray it's successful, but you just don't know what's going to happen.
I was raised in a Jewish family, but since I was adopted, my parents sent me to Hebrew school and Bible chapel, so I got the best of both worlds - singing in both a choir in Bible chapel and a chorus in Hebrew school. It shaped me and my voice.
I help tons of people through their sobriety and getting help, but not because I have lived it but because I love them, care about them, and want them to live their best lives possible. If I can help anyone through that, then that it is my honor.
It takes an awful lot to offend me.
I am a biological female. I have two children. I've been married for 16 years. I've never been a man.
Dublin is really fun, and Irish people are hilarious.
I love Marc Jacobs and what Kim Jones is doing for Dior Homme.
You get one go round in this life. Why are you going to settle for second best when you can get everything you want out of it?
When I moved to New York City to go college, my mother said, 'If you want to be recognized, you need to go out to a club.' Because we didn't have computers. We didn't have social media. We didn't even have cellphones. So you had to go out to be recognized.
I think we've seen every type of drag come across the stage of 'RuPaul's Drag Race,' and there is no end in sight of what can be on the stage.
I love creating. I love being with creative people who can think quickly on their feet.
I'm too much of a broad; I make men shake in their boots because I have a male dominance in my make-up that makes them feel emasculated.
'RuPaul's Drag Race'... is very little about boys who dress up in girls' clothing: it's very much about grit, integrity, heart, power of perseverance, and the power of love. It's also opening a dialogue up about the persecution and the marginalization of trans people, of queer people, of gender non-binary and gender fluid people.
You can all get what you want to get, and so my journey was to show you how many times along the way adversity has stared me right in the face, and I've looked it right back and said, 'No.'
I always tell the parents, 'You don't have to approve of your children; you just have to accept them for who they are.'
There have always been drag queens everywhere.
I'm an intimidating figure.
I think if you buy the 'Christmas Queens 2' album, there will be songs you love and songs you hate, just like every other album.
For me, my favorite Mariah Carey songs were never the singles, ever. My favorite Mariah song of all time is 'Sent From Up Above' from her first album, or 'Vanishing,' songs no one talks about.
Beauty is in the eye of the beholder for real.
We have to fight for what's right the same way the brothers and sisters that came before us did. The ultimate example, and there are many others, was The Stonewall Inn. They were pushed until they could take no more.
If you listen to what I'm saying, there's always a reason for it. Always. And it always comes from my heart, a place of love.
I was raised in New York, so that's the greatest city in the world to me, but if you take that out of the equation, then London is my favourite city, and I'm a huge fan of Dublin as well.
My parents both worked; I was a 'latchkey kid.' We were lower-middle class, and they did everything that they could to give me anything I wanted, within reason. We were not rich by any stretch of the imagination, but being an adopted kid, I think we had a different connotation. My parents tried extra hard, I think.
It's never too late to reclaim your inner diva and reclaim your inner strength.
I was really into punk rock but also into musical theater.
Drag is never going to be completely mainstream because it's still a queer art form.
I'm a heterosexual, married woman with children. I'm a mother who's also a track mom, who cooks and cleans. And I just happen to be an ally for the gay community.
There are a lot of kids out there that look at me as their mother, and I have my two biological children, and there are so many queens that look at me as an aunt or some sort of confidante, and I can absorb it really well.
You don't have to give up your dreams in order to earn a living - they can go hand in hand.
Give Good Face is about keeping an air of confidence on the outside and showing everybody that you have what it takes.
Listen, there's an expiration date for everything, but I mean, we're not burning out on 'Top Models,' are we? We're not burning out on making things in a 'Runway' room, are we? We're not getting enough 'Got Talent,' right? We'll never run out of talent. So, how could there be a 'Drag' burnout?
My husband's my soul mate. At the same time, RuPaul's my soul mate.
I'm loud and hard and in your face, and I tell the truth, and I think a lot of people fear the truth.
I'm a musichead. My favorite Gaga song of all time is 'You & I' - it might not be the popular vote in terms of charts or sales, but it's my favorite.
Live life and enjoy it. That's the real key to beauty!
