Bianca Del Rio Finds It Surreal To Be Called “The Joan Rivers Of Drag”
Surreal. As a faggot, as a little gay boy, anytime my name is mentioned with hers, it is surreal. Winning Drag Race was amazing, but sitting in bed with this lady who I respected, admired, and loved, and getting a moment to film an episode of In Bed With Joan, was surreal for me. I don’t get nervous. I don’t get excited. I do what I do, and I think over the years you just do it. I have a good time. But that was different. I questioned, ‘Should be I over-friendly? Should I be aloof?’ I didn’t want to be any of that. I didn’t know where to go. But once I was in a room with her, she made me feel totally comfortable. When that little inner boy realized that I was sitting in bed with Joan Rivers and she was laughing at something that I said, it was incredible. She was the sweetest, kindest, and most genuine individual I had ever met. As a comedienne, there are times when people are like, ‘It is my show.’ I never felt that with her. … I don’t know what it seemed like to everyone else, because, shockingly, I haven’t watched it. I can’t even go there, because what I felt, it doesn’t matter what anybody else felt. I had that moment. I remember going into the car leaving Melissa Rivers’ house (because that all happens in her basement). I was third of the four people filming that day, and I had a gig in some other city that day. My manager told me that I had a gig and would have to shift it. I don’t back out of anything, but it was Joan Rivers! I was like, ‘Bitch, no question!’ They said it was the only day she could do it, so we said, ‘Let’s do it.’ Luckily that other gig reworked itself out. It was effortless to have a conversation with her. My heart was like, ‘How do you beat that?’ It’s just like talking with Ru. Surreal.”
— Drag superstar Bianca Del Rio telling HuffPo how she felt when the New York Times recently profiled her and compared her to Joan Rivers
Jeremy Kinser
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