Drag Race winner Violet Chachki has revealed whether or not she would ever return to the show as a contestant in an exclusive interview with GAY TIMES.
The star emerged victorious from the US edition’s seventh season, finishing ahead of other finalists Ginger Minj and Pearl.
Her career has since gone from strength to strength, with a solo show and podcast with Gottmik among her most recent successes.
Speaking to GAY TIMES as she covers the December 2022 issue of the magazine alongside Gottmik, Violet said: “I feel like a lot of people, like my previous managers or even like, naysayers, Drag Race fans or whatever it may be, sort of put you in a box as a look queen or untalented or whatever it may be, and so to have a successful solo touring show is definitely one of my proudest moments because it’s like, this is my goal, I did it.”
Queens who have taken part in the franchise often experience vast amounts of online hate, regardless of where they placed on their season.
Violet explained that she has been “dealing with it a lot more than usual” recently and that how she handles it “changes every day”.
“And some days I’m like, fuck those people,” she continued. “Like, they don’t know who I am. They don’t know me. They don’t know where I come from. They don’t know anything about me. They’re just making assumptions and projecting things on me – but every day it’s different. Like, some days I really can’t handle it and I have to completely log off.”
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Part of this hate is the result of what Violet called an “anti-drag push” coming from right wing groups in the US, which she believes to be a “distraction”: “It’s such a tactic when there’s so many more pressing issues, in the States especially, that need to be focused on.”
“I think another thing that really, I guess bothers me about the whole thing is there’s real, true, true evil in the world, like truly evil people doing truly evil things and our attention just seems so misguided sometimes with whatever sensationalised thing is going on on the internet,” she added.
Violet’s season of Drag Race aired seven years ago, with the queen sharing that she has “finally” started feeling “comfortable enough to keep pursuing things outside of the Drag Race world” after at times feeling defined by her run on the show.
“I used to say that I would love to go back, but I don’t think so anymore – it’s just not for me,” she said of whether or not she would ever consider returning as a contestant. “I finally feel like I’m at a place where I can sort of branch out and do other things and work on other projects. And I definitely love working in TV, but the Drag Race fandom in the franchise is just so intense.”
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She also highlighted the toll that getting ready for, filming and promoting a season of the show takes on your physical and mental health: “I am a lady of a certain age now…I get anxiety just thinking about Drag Race.
“It really was one of the hardest things I’ve done and I was in such a different headspace, whatever, eight years ago that I was just so determined and I was so driven and it was like, truly my only focus in life was drag and Drag Race and winning.
“And I was so determined and headstrong and I’m just not in that headspace anymore. So for me, it’s probably a no.”
Violet did, however, joke that she is a Gemini and could always change her mind – meaning a potential return may not be off the cards entirely.
Violet Chacki and Gottmik cover the December 2022 issue of GAY TIMES Magazine. Read their interview in full here.
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