Mayhem Miller made a glorious return to the RuPaul’s Drag Race main stage on the second season of RuPaul’s Drag Race UK vs The World, and while the “Queen of the Party” had a brief run, it was nonetheless impactful. Mayhem’s talent show received a great deal of attention, but what fans may not realize, is that they were getting a peek at one of the truest forms of this legendary performer. I sat down for a chat with Mayhem to discuss meeting some brand new Drag Race competition during UK vs The World and she reflected on not just her own career, but the how far she and her legendary Drag Race sisters have truly come.
Michael Cook: You’re back on our screens with RuPaul’s Drag Race UK vs The World! What was it like to return for another season of Drag Race?
Mayhem Miller: I ask myself that all the time (laughs)! For me, it’s a respect thing. Whenever Ru calls, you answer the phone and whatever she asks, you say yes. It is an honor to not once, not twice, not thrice, but four times be asked back to participate on Drag Race. Drag Race really changed the trajectory of my career. I think it is only the respectable and honorable thing to say that if you respect me, I am going to respect and recognize you and thank you for the opportunity. So hell yeah, sign me up let’s go!
MC: It was so interesting watching you as your fellow competitors come onto the main stage. Some of the girls you didn’t know personally, others you knew from the Drag Race franchise, and with others like Scarlet Envy, it was almost like seeing someone you went to school with that you knew.
MM: Yes, it was like “Okay, there’s someone I know”. Like that first day of school when you see someone in your class. Of course, the wheels started turning also; we have to get a game plan, we have to team up!
MC: What was it like working with some new faces, while others you did know? It probably seemed a bit like your very first season of Drag Race….
MM: It definitely was very reminiscent of that, “I have no clue who is going to walk in and I don’t know anyone”. Those nerves were there, hoping everyone is going to be cool. It’s also more of rewarding feeling, to see everyone’s reactions that I am there, it was like “Oh wow…you like me”!
MC: Tell me about your talent show performance. It was definitely a different Mayhem Miller than we have seen before on stage…
MM: When you see a drag queen in person versus what you see on tv, that is a totally different beast. Especially when it comes to me, because what I do in person is totally not reflective of what I do on television, ever.
MC: How reflective of yourself was your talent performance?
MM: It’s part of who I am, it’s not something that most people know about. If you don’t follow me regularly, you would not know that I am a really spiritual person. Meditation, sound bathing, prayer, and all of that is something that I do daily. It helps ground me and keep me focused, and it helps me to maintain peace and perspective. It was fun for me to be able to share a bit of my personal life and not my entertaining life with the world.
MC: Many people are apprehensive about putting something so personal out for public consumption. Was there any hesitation for you to put something out to the world that was so close to you?
MM: I had no reservation about sharing it, I am very good at being transparent on my lives with my fans about my journey with life, how I have been able to navigate it, and the tools that I have used to help make my journey easier. I was in the mindset of thinking, every time I have been on Drag Race I have revealed a little bit more of who I am with the public, and not so much the persona of Mayhem. The more times I have been on Drag Race, more of Dequan has been able to be tapped into. I thought, let’s use your talent of sharing more about yourself and the journeys that have helped you in life and maybe they will help someone else out there.
MC: Your reaction when Raven came out onto the runway on the premiere episode was palpable and you could feel the emotional connection you have between yourself and one of the talented performers you came up in the industry with. What it is like looking around and realizing that the hard work has truly paid off?
MM: It tears me up….when I do think about it or when someone does bring it to my attention; a lot of people don’t know the journey that it has been. I found the world of drag at the age of eighteen and I started dabbling in it and I made it an actual professional career twenty four years ago. I’ve been doing this longer than most of the people I’ve been competing against have been alive (laughs)! It’s been a long, arduous, bloody, tearful journey; to see all the rewards of it, it’s been just amazing.
It’s amazing when I see my friend Raven, the work that she has done with Drag Race and RuPaul it’s like “Wait, we were those guys that were at the MAC and the Clinique counter twenty-four years ago painting random faces…and now look at us. We’re literally part of the fabric of the drag world and no one can take that away from us”. It’s crazy to think about it sometimes….
MC: You’ve gotten a front row seat to the change and the consistent reinvention of drag. What is something that you have witnessed occur with the world of drag that you never thought you would see come to pass?
MM: For me, I never thought that drag would be as mainstream as it is now. It was always an underground thing. When I was introduced to it, it was a world that no one knew about, you had to know someone to be a part of it. Now, everyone has an invitation to it, it is in every living room around the world now. It’s just weird for me to even conceive it. I always thought that we had this cool little secret and no one knew about it. It was so precious and now it’s a commodity, an industry, and a force to be reckoned with. I’m just happy that a lot of really talented people within my industry are being celebrated for their work that was just celebrated by a few and now, it is being celebrated by the masses.
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