RuPaul’s Drag Race judge Michelle Visage joins Angela Scanlon on the Thanks a Million podcast to discuss being thankful for support from the LGBTQ+ community, her devastation at being eliminated from Strictly and more.
When Michelle moved to New York, she tells Angela that she didn’t know anyone and didn’t really fit in but was accepted in as the straight, white cis-gender girl from central New Jersey by the LGBTQ+ community. She talks about how grateful she is for that and how they’ll always be her family.
Being eliminated from Strictly Come Dancing was devastating for Michelle, which happened after her tribute to Madonna’s 1990 Video Music Awards performance. She say that she “couldn’t understand how Craig and Bruno wouldn’t have loved it, being two gay men” but it wasn’t to be and she now finds it hard to watch.
There have been some battles with body issues in Michelle’s life and she talks openly about them including how it caused her to be in some damaging relationships in the past. These days, she tries to be as healthy as possible and realises she’ll never look like she did in her twenties.
It was a long chapter in her life, but she says she’s glad it’s behind her although it affected her for around 30 years.
Michelle also opens up about marriage, she says: “Marriage is beautiful. Marriage is lovely, and I love it. And I love my husband. We’ve been together for 24 years. He knows everything about me and, again, still loves me. He knows every single thing about me and vice versa. And I love that.”
It was 22 years ago that Michelle’s mum passed away and she talks openly about their last moments together in the hospital. “Now, she didn’t die right away. She was on life support,” Michelle explains, “By the time I got to sit down and tell her how grateful I was, she was on life support. Did she hear me? I don’t know. I’m hoping she did.
“I had three months of her being trapped, you know, on life support and keeping her alive and me whispering things in her ear. And I remember the last thing I said to her when I saw how much pain she was in, which was, ‘I’ll take care of Daddy and David, my brother. I got this. You can trust me. Don’t worry’,” she adds.
In the podcast you’ll also hear about Michelle’s therapy and how there was lots of it before she became happy with herself, plus she reveals her dream gig!
Thanks A Million with Angela Scanlon is available on Apple, Spotify and all podcast providers
