'Drag is therapy': Violet Chachki on coming to Paris

Violet Chachki is the first male-bodied drag queen ever to dance at the fabled Crazy Horse cabaret in Paris, where she hopes her appearance will help "spread the therapy" she herself got from drag.

Chachki has become a huge star since winning the 2015 series of hit US TV show "RuPaul's Drag Race", with more than two million followers on Instagram.

In June, she joins the bill at the Crazy Horse, one of the renowned institutions of Parisian "nude chic" alongside the Moulin Rouge.

"Being at the Crazy Horse is absolutely a dream come true. The first male-bodied person on this apparatus -- it's historic and a huge honor," Chachki, who goes by female pronouns when she is in costume, told AFP.

Chachki says drag offered her a way to navigate life © ALAIN JOCARD / AFP

"Drag culture for me was always therapeutic. Now I've reached this international level I'm able to spread that therapy to other people who are maybe lacking confidence or feel they don't fit in.

"I'm proud to be that girl," she added.

Chachki, 31, was born Jason Dorda in Atlanta, which she describes as "a sort of gay Mecca of the South of the United States".

Drag culture provided a way to break out of her strict upbringing.

"I went to a Catholic school so for me I was always told I have to wear a uniform, you can't wear this or that. For me drag was always rebellious, always punk."

The success of "RuPaul's Drag Race" has totally changed that.

"When I first started drag 12 years ago it was really underground. It was not a career you would want.

"There's maybe too many drag queens at this point. Now it's become a career path, it's become over-saturated and homogenized, and you can see lots of people ripping off."

Being a drag queen 'has become a career path', says Chachki © ALAIN JOCARD / AFP

But overall she said it is positive, since greater representation offers more chance for people like her to find someone they relate with in the media.

"If people can get pleasure, enjoyment, escapism, therapy, confidence... these are all tools that can help you navigate life.

"Life was very difficult for me until I found drag."

'Purple trinket'

She takes her first name from cult lesbian crime thriller "Bound", the 1996 debut film by the Wachowskis, who went on to make "The Matrix".

Violet, played by Jennifer Tilly, is "the kind of woman I want to be -- queer, powerful, knows what she wants, sexual and confident."

"Chachki" is a Yiddish word for decorative trinkets, which she hordes.

"A purple trinket -- that's me!"

Her stage performances feature burlesque striptease and acrobatic aerial dances using fabric and ropes, while her look is inspired by pin-ups from the 1950s, with a touch of goth fetishism.

Chachki at the MTV Video Music Awards in 2015 © MARK RALSTON / AFP

When AFP met her, she was wearing towering Louboutin heels, an ultra-tight corset under a black dress that reveals her tattooed arms, a rhinestone cross-shaped necklace and a jet-black wig.

Dealing with backlash and criticism is also part of the job.

"There's always going to be resistance. But a famous drag queen told me early on if you don't have any haters you're doing something wrong.

"You have to be upsetting somebody. I'd much rather have people hating me than being indifferent."

© 2024 AFP