Michelle Visage opens up about her sexuality: ‘Gender never mattered to me’
Michelle Visage. (BBC)
Michelle Visage has opened up about her sexuality, saying gender has “never really mattered” to her – but she doesn’t identify as queer.
The Drag Race judge was asked if she considers herself a part of the queer community in an interview with the Sydney Morning Herald.
Michelle Visage, who has had sexual experiences with men and women, explained: “I never looked at it that way.”
She continued: “I always felt that it would be rude to bisexuals [to claim queer status], because I’ve never had a relationship with a woman.
“Sexual relationships, but never relationships. If you want to look at it in a broader picture, probably. But gender never really mattered to me.
“It was just, like, ‘I think you’re hot.’ Simple as that.”
Michelle Visage wishes she had ‘valued’ her body more in her youth
Elsewhere in the interview, Michelle Visage opened up about being sexually adventurous in her youth, saying she wishes she could tell her younger self to “value” her body more.
“We always joke on Drag Race about me being a slag. All of that is actually true,” Visage said.
“I don’t get tormented by it, but it was my weapon of choice. Being an adopted kid, it was about my sense of being wanted.
“The way I felt wanted was to make every boy or girl I fancied want me. If I’d valued myself a little bit more, I would’ve realised that I’m worth so much more than a one-night stand.”
Michelle Visage, who first rose to fame as a member of girl group Seduction in the late ’80s, has been open about her past sexual relationships with women – but she has always been adamant that she doesn’t identify as bisexual.
Speaking to The Guardian in 2020, Visage claimed bisexuality “wasn’t really a thing” when she was growing up New Jersey.
“It was just if I saw a pretty girl and I was attracted to her, why not?” she said.
The 52-year-old icon admitted that identifying as bisexual might help to calm LGBT+ critics, some of whom have argued that her judging slot on Drag Race should be held by a queer person.
“It would be easier, but I don’t feel like the easy way out is always the right way,” she said.
“I don’t want to take anything away from somebody who’s truly living a bisexual lifestyle.”
