Creme of the crop!

This week Jason Reid got to have a fun yet frank chat about Drag Race, bitchy queens, and coping with depression with one of our favourite queens from Season 6 of Ru Paul’s Drag Race, direct from her hometown of Seattle, and straight to G-A-Y Porn Idol, the terminally delightful BenDeLaCreme… 

Hey DeLa, let’s start by talking a bit about your character. She’s quite ‘old school’, isn’t she?

Absolutely. I’ve been a drag fanatic since I was a kid and have always admired and been inspired by acts like Varla Jean Merman, Lady Bunny and Coco Peru. I never wanted to be a contemporary pop diva, I was always into old-school camp.

You and Bianca were quite different from the rest of the girls in your season, in both style and age; how did you find that?

It’s something I was aware of going into the show, not so much with age, but, as you say, with my style of drag. In five seasons I’d never really seen the kind of drag I’m interested in be represented. I love drag artists who embody a specific character and have a developed aesthetic that they stick to. Contemporary drag, specifically the kind that’s been on Drag Race, has been more about being a pop star; which is fun, but I knew it was going to be different for me to try to bring my style into a reality TV show format. Does that make sense?

Totally. The show was brimming with some very large characters, how did you cope with the more bitchy ones? 

I’ve been working in drag since I was 21 (12 years) so I’m used to the bitchy mentality that goes with some queens. And, you know, I fell into all that for a long time, too. For years that was the way I spoke and handled myself, until I realised I didn’t want to participate in it anymore. So I started combating it with this bubbly, upbeat, slightly dumb character. If somebody threw shade I could pretend that I didn’t get it and just be really positive back to them. And it worked. So I stuck with it.

Turning negatives into positives is a great way to deal with it. What would you say your strengths are as a performer?

I just looooove performing live. Also, by taking on a different persona, it allows my barriers to come down and I feel like I can show a lot more of myself, and interact with the audience. When you’re essentially playing a cartoon character there are no rules, or need for self-editing techniques, which is the great part.

Moving on, and away from the onstage persona; you’ve always been very open about your battle with depression. How did that initially manifest itself?

Obviously my mother dying when I was a kid was utterly devastating and a trigger for my depression. We were very close and even though she’d been fighting cancer for most of my life, when she died it was very sudden. It threw me into disarray and it took me a long time to get through that. In some ways you never recover from such a traumatic loss. And at the same time I was realising I was gay, whilst living in a very conservative small town in Connecticut, with no one to turn to.

How did you/do you cope with that depression? 

For me, having an artistic outlet is a huge part of being able to move out of those dark spots into a place of happiness. BenDeLaCreme is a character who is all about turning to the bright side and sometimes that’s what I and others need. So that’s what I want to put out there.

It’s almost like a form of cathartic therapy? 

Yeah, I mean, it’s not about suppressing anything. I think it’s really important for people to acknowledge what they’re going through and feeling. Drag is so much about giving something to people. Being on stage is of course partly about you, but mostly it’s about the people you’re performing for. And doing things for others is always a positive way to make you feel better. Being responsible for hundreds of people’s laughter is a great feeling.

Let’s finish on a fun one. If you could only read one book, watch one movie and listen to one album for the rest of your life, what would they be?

Oooh this is HARD! Okay my album would be The Best of Peggy Lee; my movie would be Who Framed Roger Rabbit? And my book… Life of Pi.

• BenDeLaCreme will be judging G-A-Y Porn Idol on Thursday 16th October at Heaven (under the Arches, Villiers Street, Charing Cross, WC2N 6NG). 

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