After delivering memorable challenges and iconic queens like Raven & All Stars 6 winner Kylie Sonique Love, Season 2 of RuPaul’s Drag Race is cemented in herstory as legendary. With Season 2 standout Jessica Wild rising to Top 3 on RuPaul’s Drag Race All Stars 8, Wild has proven that the dolls of the earlier seasons still have plenty to showcase. I sat down with this fan favorite to dish on returning to All Stars, the queens she wanted to work with the most, and why her appreciation for this moment is definitely not going unnoticed.
MC: It was such an absolute treat to see you return to RuPaul’s Drag Race for All Stars 8!
Jessica Wild: Thank you so much, this comeback has been beyond what I was expecting, I am super happy.
MC: Looking back on the whole experience, are you happy with your entire All Stars run?
JW: I am super happy. When you are shooting the show, you are just focused on the challenges and you don’t know how it is going to be on television. I am super happy with what I did and how I looked, everything. I am really happy with everything.
MC: It has been over a decade since you first competed on RuPaul’s Drag Race. From the moment you entered the werkroom, what struck you as suddenly being very different?
JW: It was kind of similar, but I was so confident. Especially because I can express myself better, in my season by English would not let me express myself. That was the only thing that was different to me. I feel like I came back home, it was like coming back home. I am a big fan of the show also, so I am watching all of the seasons.
To be honest, it was like being in a normal situation for me, but it was a bigger studio and being with my girls who I have been working with through the years. It wasn’t like “Who are these people”?; I felt more welcome.
MC: We saw you during All Stars 6 as a Lip Sync Assassin and the fans reacted so strongly and positively. Is that when you started to think that you might be ready for a return to the werkroom for your own All Stars season?
JW: I had the feeling, when I did the Lip Sync Assassin. At some point, i was avoiding the idea of being on All Stars. When I would get a call from World of Wonder, I would think “Oh My God”; I thought that it was not for me anymore. After I was the Lip Sync Assassin though, I started to say “You know what, this is going to happen and you better say yes”!
MC: Could you have imagined that after not competing for over a decade on Drag Race, you made it to the Top Three? You have so much to be proud of!
JW: Trust me, I am. Every episode, every place that I go, every message that I get reminds me that I made the right decision and that I didn’t let my fears stop me. I was very scared of doing the process. I wasn’t scared when I got the call, I’m a very nervous person, but I never let my fears dominate me. Because I know at the end, something amazing is going to happen.
MC: What do you think your rose and thorn are of the entire All Stars experience?
JW: My favorite part is that I learned so much from myself. That I can do anything, that I m not just a dancer or a singer, I can do a lot of thing. Especially after watching myself do a roast, it was terrifying Now everyone is talking about my roast, and I am thinking “let me go tour as a comedian” (laughs). The show and the competition helped me understand that. The least favorite thing is we are there shooting for so many hours and you get very tired and it is not easy to go through. Everything is amazing though…
MC: Is there anyone that you walked into the werkroom and saw and were just so thrilled to have the opportunity to be able to work with them?
JW: To be honest, Kandy Muse. She is one of my favorites and every time I see Kandy we get to say hi at the bar, but we never got to work together or to build a relationship so I was very excited. And when Jimbo walked in I was like “Oh My God”, I was so excited; I am a huge fan of Jimbo.
MC: Working with people from different franchises like that must be so refreshing because it gives you an insight into styles and perspectives of drag that you might never have gotten to work on the show with before.
JW: For me, the thing is that a lot of these girls see me as an “auntie” coming from an earlier season, so they all let me be a part of their lives immediately, even thanking me for being part of the season that opened the doors for all of the success.
MC: After over a decade and a half, does it feel as special to you to be one of the people that helped lay the groundwork and build the legacy of the show?
JW: Yes, especially because Season 1 was kind of a pilot and Season 2, it was just everywhere. I remember seeing my picture in New York City on buildings and on the train and it was a life changing experience. All of these people started being huge fans of the show and I was getting messages on MySpace and a little bit of Facebook and I started to realize that the show was huge. I think a lot of people started watching Drag Race from Season 2…
MC: How has your career changed for you since Season 2 of RuPaul’’s Drag Race?
JW: I started doing drag in Puerto Rico and when Drag Race came into my life, I had a career but not a full time career; drag then became my full time job. Besides that, I started traveling the world, I had my first single, and working with my favorite artists. Drag became my everything, my full time job up until today. The show opened the doors. I thought it was enough to be Jessica Wild from Puerto Rico, then I realized that I could be Jessica Wild to the world.
The show opened those doors and I am always going be grateful. I am always going to thank RuPaul, World of Wonder and Logo. I remember going places and I thought that was Madonna! Being celebrated, going to Pride, having huge lines for a meet and greet, everything was very new for me. I felt validated and trust me, Season 2 changes my life.
MC: All Stars is probably about to change your life all over again. What do you have planned now?
JW:I am taking advantage of this opportunity. The good thing is that now I am wiser and I am enjoying every minute. I am paying attention to every person everywhere that I go. I do my own social media because I want to know what is happening, people are giving me love and I don’t want to miss that. Sometimes where I go, the meet and greet is not required but I am still doing it. That is my payment for all of my sacrifices, all of the love.
The good thing is that I am more concious than I was on Season 2. I was younger, more inexperienced, lets just go with the flow. Now I know what I do every day and every minute. The show started a month and a half ago and I almost feel like it was three years ago with all of these experiences.
MC: What would the Jessica Wild that just wrapped All Stars tell the Jessica Wild that departed Season 2 all those years ago?
JW: I would tell her thank you for never stopping, for continuing to believe in yourself when you thought that it was over. Thank you for giving me this opportunity to start a new adventure and chapter in my life. That is the blessing; I am connecting with more people, even the people that have known me for years and they are reconnecting, it’s beautiful. The people that worked on Season 2, I am reconnecting with them even. This opportunity is bringing back people that was in contact with; it’s a lot. but in the most beautiful way.
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