As the first queen to emerge from the scorching drag city known as Miami Florida, Malaysia Babydoll Foxx came in with a large personality and even bigger amount of talent. As she moved through the competition, she bumped heads in Untucked with Marcia Marcia Marcia, and emerged as an unexpected mentor to TikTok dynamos Sugar and Spice. While she has now departed the competition, this Florida superstar has plans to hit the road and keep opening minds all over the world. We recently caught up post-elimination and dished about her Drag Race highs and lows and how all of us, at some point, are stepping into our own kind of drag.
Michael Cook: Now that your RuPaul’s Drag Race experience has ended, how do you look back on it now?
Malaysia Babydoll Fox: It was a really great experience. I really enjoyed myself and I learned a lot about myself; lets do it all over again!
MC: One thing that is very interesting is that in fifteen seasons, we have not seen a drag queen from Miami, Florida until you were cast this season. Why do you think it took so long to get a queen from Miami on the show?
MBF: Because they were waiting on me to get it right for so long, and then I finally got it right in my audition tape. They were waiting on me to be the first representative and now that they have had me, I am sure that there are going to be many more Miami girls! They needed the perfect representative and I think I started the Miami girls out right!
MC: During your Drag Race run you got to do everything from Snatch Game to the acting challenges to the Lip Sync LaLaPaRuZa. What challenge do you look back on as a challenge that you really are thrilled to have been able to have taken part in?
MBF: The acting challenge, but honestly I enjoyed doing the design challenges as well. I am the type of person that when I am under pressure, I think it brings out the best in me. A lot of people get nervous under pressure, but I was curious to see what I could come up with in a design challenge. Knowing that I am someone that is not necessarily good at sewing, but I am someone that has a very creative mind and an eye for fashion, I thought that I would excel at that no matter what. I was very excited about that going into Drag Race.
MC: One thing that fans really enjoyed about you is that you held people accountable for what they said and their actions, and your moments in Untucked truly reflected that. How do you feel about how you came across on the show now that you are able to see it played back?
MBF: I am totally fine with the way that I came across. I could have been a little bit more bitter maybe (laughs)! Honestly, being there I remember what happened, but after so long you don’t remember exactly what happened. Watching it back, I was like “wow”! I was rooting for myself, but I didn’t realize at that point that I was standing up for myself. Leaving and not being there and realizing what happened, I just thought that was maybe I was screaming at somebody because I was angry or upset. I also didn’t realize that in that moment, I was standing up for not just myself, but so many other people whether they were in the competition or at home watching; I think I represented a lot of people in that moment. I found myself rooting for myself from the outside, and I was proud of myself.
MC: In one of the most lovely relationships to come of out RuPaul’s Drag Race Season 15, you and Mistress Isabelle Brooks are the “mother hens” in a way to Sugar and Spice. How did that relationship take shape and truly flourish?
MBF: I love them very dearly. Mistress and I obviously kiki and play a lot, and they would get ready by the mirror and we would get ready by the mirror as well so we would have a lot of conversations. Knowing that they do a lot of TikTok and they have not done a lot of live in person drag, and Mistress and I come from that background and lifestyle, it was just something fun that we did. Obviously we see that the world loves the relationship and how it is flourishing, so why not take it and run with it? We all definitely have a very close relationship outside of the show.
The thing is, even without the labels, we all learn so much from each other. I practically go to their house every time I am in L.A. and I stay there. I see how much work they put into what they do and I have a newfound respect for it. Honestly, I was very close minded to people that do TikTok’s and virtual drag prior to meeting them. It is a lot of work and it is not as easy as it works! The videos might be twenty or thirty seconds, but it takes a lot of work to put those twenty or thirty second videos together to make masterpieces. Obviously we live in a world where those things are a trend right now and it is what we thrive off of. We look at TikTok and people are learning to cook off of thirty second videos; it is very impressive.
MC: Rumors are continuing to buzz that the four of you could be hitting the road together…
MBF: Listen, everybody keeps asking for it, we keep teasing it…Hopefully very soon, sooner than later. I bought some platform heels recently, I’m trying to learn to walk in high heels. I don’t know if Mistress will survive. I’m used to walking in heels, maybe not that high, but I am used to walking in heels higher than Mistress. The true test will be Mistress getting in a platform (laughs)!
MC: What do you think your rose and thorn are from your Drag Race experience?
MBF: My best part is making it-and being authentically me. Showing the world a glimpse of my drag, even though I don’t feel like I showed everything at the end of the day. I feel like there is so much to Malaysia, even if I had made it to the end, the world would not have seen all of me. My thorn is probably that I psyched myself up going in, and I wish I had loosened up and let go a little earlier than later. It would have changed a lot for me if I was out of my head.
MC: Your drag is truly a classic style of drag. Did you find it hard to come into come into Drag Race and merge your own style of drag with so many different styles of drag that are not making up RuPaul’s Drag Race?
MBF: I think in a situation like that, I have so much respect for every drag style because we live in a world and in a time where it is about being inclusive. It is about finding your space and not making other people feel valid or not making other people feel like what they bring is not good enough. Still trying to find that respect, but still trying to understand it at the same time; it’s always that for me. My experience with Drag Race overall, I enjoyed myself. The things that I would change, I came in confident, but as soon as the cameras came on I second guessed myself a lot and I wish I didn’t second guess myself so much in the beginning. Eventually throughout the season I let go and fully formed, but I wish I had come more to the forefront in the beginning and I think I would have had better results.
MC: What do you think you want to do next? You have the world and the Drag Race platform in front of you.
MBF: It is very cliche but I did Drag Race to inspire. Not just to be “famous”,but I am doing what I love now; I am traveling and I want to keep doing that. I want to inspire and I also want to create more spaces for people to have opportunities to showcase themselves and their art. I want to capitalize and do things like that.
MC: The world is seeming to be so upside down right now, and your home state of Florida is at the center of so much of it. How do you think we combat so much of the hate coming towards out community and rise above it?
MBF: I think we just have to continue to do what we do and spread love. Drag is at the end of the day, an art form. I tell people that whether they realize it or not, everybody is a drag queen. Everybody has to put on dress up to go do their job at the end of the day; whether you realize it or not, you are a drag queen. Whether you are a politician, a police officer, a fireman, a singer, an actor, or a dancer-we are all drag performers at the end of the day. We have to dress up and do our job and we have to love what we do.
In some type of shape or form, we have to sell ourselves to people; make people love us, believe us, or we have to save somebody in some type of way. I feel like if people understood it in that type of way, there would not be so much negativity aimed towards it. It goes to show, you can’t box one thing in because you have experienced something that maybe was not your cup of tea. All drag performers, all entertainers aren’t the same. Even when I perform sometimes, I perform gospel music sometimes and people don’t expect to hear that. At the end of the day, closed minded people need to be open minded people, that’s all.
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