RuPaul’s Drag Race season 13 winner and Bros rom-com star Symone teared up as she revealed how the reality competition series and her own mother saved her from suicide.
In a new interview on Drag Race judge Ts Madison’s Outlaws video podcast, the drag superstar became visibly emotional as she recounted her life before and after taking the crown on RuPaul’s Emmy-winning TV show, telling Madison that the program “changed my life forever” after she won $100,000 that allowed her to “take care” of her mom.
“I’ve been able to take care of my friends and help people through this. I’ve been able to help myself through this. I learned a lot about myself and changed my perspective on myself. It made me realize that I am not worthless. I got it,” Symone told Madison, before opening up about her mental health prior to becoming a drag queen.
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RuPaul and Symone on ‘RuPaul’s Drag Race’
“It changed everything, when I tell you that’s what I mean, from the top to the bottom of my life. I wasn’t a very confident kid. It gave me a reason to be,” Symone continued. “I don’t know where I would be without drag. I don’t know if I ever said this publicly, but I remember I came home one day, and I just had enough. I was bullied as a kid, and I just had enough. I was ready to eject.”
She remembered going to the kitchen in her home, and recalled thinking that “the only thing that saved me from doing that was my mom.”
Symone added, “I remember her saying one time, ‘If anything happens like that, you might as well take me with you, because I can’t take it.’ That was the only thing that saved me. Drag happened after that, Drag Race was on and I saw it for the first time and it clicked in my head, like, that’s it. That’s the reason.”
Entertainment Weekly has reached out to Symone for additional comment.
In an exclusive winner interview with EW following her triumph over season 13’s stacked cast — which also included finalists and future All Stars competitors Kandy Muse and Gottmik — Symone reacted to the importance of her win and what it would mean for other young Black people watching at home.
“I want people to know that there’s hope. I want people to know that there’s still life. It’s so easy to get bogged down in another death, another murder, another atrocity, but I want people to understand that there are still people who are fighting, people who see what’s going on and are trying to uplift,” Symone said at the time, noting the proximity of her victory to a jury reaching a guilty verdict in the murder of George Floyd.
She continued, “There’s always a light at the end of the tunnel. That’s what my crowning represents. I come from such a dark place, of feeling like there was no way out, but finding my way through it. But, there’s a way. If you can see it for yourself and you want it, there’s always a way. That’s what my induction into this beautiful hall of glamour is! It’s just hope.”
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Watch Symone discuss her emotional mental health journey with Madison in the podcast clip above.
If you or someone you know is considering suicide, contact the 988 Suicide and Crisis Lifeline by dialing 988, or text “STRENGTH” to the Crisis Text Line at 741741.
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