PHOTOGRAPHY BY ALEC WHITE
SPECIAL THANKS TO JASON WOODLEY AT PREMIER

Through self-care, therapy and witchcraft, Jinkx Monsoon is finally – in her words – a “well-rounded drag queen” (and “ethical slut”).

This year, the internationally tolerated redhead made a triumphant return to Broom’s Drag Race on the franchise’s first-ever Quarter Quell season, where she delivered the best Snatch Game performance in herstory and became only the second US contestant – after her Seattle sister BenDeLaCreme – to win five maxi-challenges. The power of Hecate!

Jinkx ultimately defeated her opponents – including Monét X Change, Trinity the Tuck and Shea Couleé – becoming the first two-time winner of RuPaul’s Drag Race and the Queen of All Queens. 

“All Stars 7 was so celebratory and [the producers] gave us so much of what we needed to be our best selves,” Jinkx tells GAY TIMES. “No one was eliminated and there wasn’t a lot of catty drama, and it was so amazing to see that so much good work could come out of an environment of positivity and support. Yes, drag is very competitive. The entertainment world is very competitive. But, there’s also a strong sense of community.”

The star is currently preparing for the release of her brand new sketch show on WOW Presents Plus, titled Sketchy Queens, which she co-created with her comedy partner Liam Krug. Joined by fellow Drag Racers and celebrities such as Trixie Mattel, Brittany Broski and Brandon Rogers, the eight-episode series features celebrity impersonations and alternate versions of our favourite narcoleptic superstar, as well as Winderly Landchime, who is better than you.

Read ahead for our full interview with the Queen of All Queens about her All Stars 7 victory and this exciting new phase in her career.

Jinkx Monsoon, huge condragulations on your All Stars 7 win. How does it feel having a title as prestigious as the Queen of All Queens? Surely you must feel like that bitch?

I’ve never been “that bitch”! Maybe I feel like that witch? I’ve got to be completely honest, when I won season five I put so much pressure on myself. I let expectations affect the work that I was creating. I was so worried about meeting everyone’s expectations as a winner of Drag Race that it got to me. I was having less fun because I was more worried about meeting expectations than doing the work I love. Every other episode on All Stars 7, I’m talking about witchcraft, gender politics, being sober, trans identities. I was an ethical slut shouting it from the rooftops! I really let it all hang out, and then I won. I told myself, rather than worrying about expectations with this title and putting a lot of pressure myself, why don’t I trust that I won this title being myself? So, I should uphold this title being myself. That’s really been such a huge difference between season five and now. I’ve gotten to that place because I put the work in with therapy, witchcraft, self-care, y’know? All that good stuff, all the stuff that makes us well-rounded human beings. That’s why I’m now such a well-rounded drag queen!

It was truly one of the best seasons of Drag Race ever, thanks to the incredible roster of queens and its celebration of the art-form. What else did you take away from the experience?

Some of the profound things for me were… Talking about that kind of pressure and expectations that I had, when I talked to all the other winners there, they all had such similar stories. Realising those pressures and that anxiety and the voices that get into your head, when you’re holding a position of power, I was always worried, ‘Am I too soft for this? Was I not built for this?’ It turns out that all these other queens that I’ve always admired and seen as such powerful entities in the world went through all the same stuff. It’s human to go through those moments of self-doubt and to put that kind of pressure on yourself. It’s human to be scared sometimes. It was really profound to know that it’s a universal thing, or maybe a thing shared amongst winners! I think the most amazing thing about All Stars 7 is… I’m really close with a lot of the girls from season five, but that was in spite of the competition. All Stars 7 was so celebratory and they gave us so much of what we needed to be our best selves. No one was eliminated and there wasn’t a lot of catty drama, and it was so amazing to see that so much good work could come out of an environment of positivity and support. Yes, drag is very competitive. The entertainment world is very competitive. But, there’s also a strong sense of community. When the queens are on tour together, if someone’s missing a bobby bin then someone else gives her a bobby pin. That’s the kind of drag I want displayed in the world and I’m so proud to be part of season seven, where we displayed that kind of sisterhood and camaraderie, and still produced a fucking amazing of Drag Race.