In Drag, It Turns Out, There Are Second Acts

Inside the long career of RuPaul Charles, “the world’s pre-eminent drag queen.”

RuPaul Charles zoomed down Sunset Boulevard in a 1979 red Volvo he inherited from his mother. He wore a pinstripe suit and an open-collar shirt revealing a wedge of shaved chest.

“Hollywood is an idea,” he said, as the Bee Gees blared on the radio. “It’s not a real place.”

He stared down the road through oversize sunglasses. “It’s more of a concept,” he continued. “So, to step behind the curtain of the dream factory, things are never what they seem to be, and that is by design.”

Published: Feb 21, 2014
Length: 9 minutes (2,400 words)