“I grew up being told that I wasn’t allowed to do drag, let alone be on Drag Race,” season 13 queen Gottmik says. “Now I’m here at the finale and I can win this sh*t.”
The L.A.-based makeup artist crashed the cis-tem and made RuPaul’s Drag Race herstory by becoming the first trans man to compete on the show. After a season that can only be described as gagatondra, Gottmik not only made final four but is a favorite to become America’s Next Drag Superstar. “It’s such a magical, insane feeling to me to be able to accomplish all that and finally be here,” she gushes.
ET’s Brice Sander spoke with Gottmik ahead of Friday’s grand finale about learning to let go, her Snatch Game-winning performance as Paris Hilton and making the most gorge impact on Drag Race ever.
ET: Let’s talk about the potential her-story making moment, history-making moment, cis-tory breaking moment of you becoming the first trans man to take home the title. What would that mean to you? And what do you think it would mean to the community?
Gottmik: It would mean so much to me — obviously — if I was the first trans man to win RuPaul’s Drag Race for so many reasons. For me personally, just being able say, like, “F**k you,” and prove all these people wrong that I am here and I’m trans and I do drag and I can do drag and drag is an art and not an identity. And I got to prove that. So, I’m so proud that I was able to come on the show and tell my story and see how many people were inspired by my story and inspired to start drag and move forward in their transition and so many things. I know that even just me being on the show, no matter what happens, I made such an impact. I’m so proud of being here and what I did.
You’ve literally changed the game and are helping to change the world. I thought the show handled your story so well and how you were hesitant at first to reveal that part of yourself to your season 13 sisters. Can you talk about why you were hesitant and how you overcame that hesitancy?
At the beginning of the show, I was just so hesitant across the board, because I wanted to come in and be this good role model and be able to tell my story with the perfect words and say the perfect things and be, like, the most perfect little gorge drag queen I could ever be with my perfect makeup and waist and everything. And then the more I realized that my drag is so much more than just this physical aspect that I thought it was, the more I was able to have fun with my comedy and my acting and so many things I learned that I love even more than my physical appearance now, which is so crazy
