“It’s been a crazy few days just trying to settle in it and really realize it, but it feels amazing,” she said. “It feels great, you know, one, being in the finale of my season was already a big thing for me, and then even making it to the top this time around still felt great. But to be in the finale of my original season, but come back on All Stars and win like that, it feels crazy, but in the best way.”
“I’m so proud of myself. I’m so proud of myself because when I get in the room, like in Drag Race , I really do give it my all,” she continued. “So it just feels really, really validating, and it just feels great to have that legacy on Drag Race . I don’t think it’s something everyone is able to achieve, so it feels really good that I can say that this is my particular journey with Drag Race .”
VanMichaels won the $200,000 grand prize donation for her charity of choice, the National Black Justice Coalition . She said raising money for charity has been “incredible,” but winning the grand prize for her chosen charity is even better.
“I’m so glad I got to be a part of it,” she said of the season. “I could not have said yes faster. I’m so glad I did it. It’s been wonderful, just seeing all of everyone’s charities and knowing that no one’s charity felt random. Everybody had a reason. You could fully tell that every single person’s charity meant something to them and represented them in some way, shape or form. And then now winning this $200,000 and more for my charity, it just feels great because what the National Black Justice Coalition fights for is so important to me. Being a Black queer individual, it feels amazing to give that money to that particular cause. For me, I could not have chosen another charity for myself. I’m so glad that I decided to do this season for them, and I’m so glad I actually won for them.”
The win couldn’t have come at a better time now that the 2024 presidential race is in full effect. VanMicheals said she hopes the coalition can use the money to continue to protect queer POC rights during the election season and beyond.
“It’s so needed,” she said of the donation. “The timing couldn’t be greater. There’s just so much going on right now, and there are so many Black POCs who need to be empowered, and there’s so much going on, so much violence, so much hate. We need change and you know, if I could even just help by doing this competition… I’m so glad to do it.”
Even more poetic to the time is how Vice President Kamala Harris’ visit to the Werkroom, filmed months before she became the presumptive Democratic presidential nominee, has aired in the middle of her historic campaign.
“Seeing her like that on TV felt like, ‘Oh my God.’ Seeing her sit on the same couches that we sit on for Untucked and being in the Werkroom made it so real. It just feels like change in the right direction. It puts it all into perspective. I’m hopeful, seeing her there with everybody. And I just think that was just an amazing thing. And then once again, timing — like, what are the odds, you know? I’m such a big supporter of her and her whole campaign. I couldn’t be happier to see her running, and I’m fighting so hard. I’m wishing her the best. I hope it happens, I hope I get to see [her win]; I hope we all get to see it. She is already my president in my mind, so just seeing her on that couch is helping me manifest it.”
VanMicheals said she had a lot more fun the second time in the Werkroom but admitted that she felt the challenges were even harder than those in her season. However, she said she was “a lot more comfortable this time, so I think that worked out in my favor.”
“I was able to approach them like, ‘OK, let’s do it.’ Even though I definitely felt like a lot of the challenges were definitely harder, I think one of my favorites was definitely the roast,” she shared. “The roast was my favorite because that was something in my season that I did OK in, but definitely one of those challenges you go, ‘If I could do that again, I would, and I think I would be so much better at it,’ and it was. I felt like I was entertaining the room. I had cards with jokes on them, but I got up there, and I didn’t even need them; I didn’t even look at them. I felt so comfortable and so at home delivering those jokes on stage. That moment was everything.”
VanMicheals’ talent shone this season, but she said that everyone’s talent was on 10. She called it “so inspiring” to see her competitors and fellow sisters performing at the top level.
“You know, I just love drag so much and drag artists. I have such a respect for this art form and the people that do it. So to be in the room with people that I have been inspired by, to be in the room with these artists that respect and care so much about the art form that I care so much in respect and to be in a competition with them, it’s just a great feeling,” she said. “It is inspiring during the competition to have that around you with doing these challenges and stuff because everybody’s doing it. So it’s like really lighting a fire up under you. You don’t have to worry about any filler energy at all. Everyone was 10 toes down, ready to go. Everybody’s great at what they do. And it felt good being around that.”
VanMichaels’ biggest rival this season was Roxxxy Andrews , but VanMicheals said Andrews is also one of her biggest inspirations. Her worry during the season was that the drama from the Ruby Snippers would impact their real-life friendship.
“I’m gonna be honest, it was way more funny watching it back than it was in the moment, because sometimes in those moments while we were filming, it didn’t always feel great,” she said. “It’s kind of hard like when you have moments like that in a competition in real-time, and I’m also a person that cares about the friendships and the bonds I’m making too. So I never wanted anything in the competition, whether it was the Snippers or what, to affect the actual bond that me and Roxxxy were forming because I do have such a respect for her as an entertainer and a person. But we are so great. We are so good. And I think watching it back for both of us was really fun. It was so funny. It was so light. I really enjoyed watching it. It was honestly one of the highlights of the season for me seeing us kind of like just go back and forth and back and forth.”
What’s next for VanMicheals after getting inducted into the All-Stars Hall of Fame? She said she’s hoping for many more television opportunities.
“That’s my biggest thing. I mean, I would love to do more music and all of that, but my biggest thing is TV,” she said. “Just like how RuPaul said [about VanMicheals’ talent], she knows how much of a TV personality I am, and I’ve always wanted to be. And she is one of the first queer people and drag queens that I’ve ever seen on screen in any role. And I have always wanted to be that. [She] caught my eye very early with movies like To Wong Foo and shows like Sister, Sister . I’ve always wanted to be that, and I hope that is in my future. I see major roles on TV and film in my future, and that is what I want to do.”
Watch RuPaul’s Drag Race All Stars Season 9 on Paramount+ .
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