John Waters says the shared secret to Divine and RuPaul’s success is this surprisingly overlooked part of their image
We can't unsee it now he's pointed it out
John Waters has suggested there is a shared reason for RuPaul and the late Divine’s success – how smart they look out of drag.
The iconic movie director reflected on his and the drag queens’ love of men’s tailoring in a recent interview with The Hollywood Reporter.
The 77-year-old directed Divine in movies such as Pink Flamingos and Hairspray. Divine died of a heart attack in 1988 at the age of 42.
“A lot of drag queens don’t even want to be photographed out of drag” – John Waters
Said John: “I always have said that RuPaul – who has been around as long as we have and I really salute him for making drag totally acceptable by the middle class – but one of the reasons for RuPaul’s success that nobody ever mentions is he also had a great look out of drag.”
The star continued: “Most drag queens do not concentrate on that. Because a lot of drag queens don’t even want to be photographed out of drag.”
Elsewhere in the interview, John reflected: “Divine wasn’t trans. He didn’t want to be a woman. He wanted to be Godzilla and Elizabeth Taylor put together. [And] he never walked around in drag or anything; he never did that. He wasn’t trans. I mean, he’d be for that movement, but he wore expensive men’s suits and all, and that’s what he was striving for.”
In a RuPaul’s Drag Race SE7 episode in 2015, John allowed queens including Trixie Mattel to perform skits inspired by his friend.
Nine years ago, RuPaul interviewed John in Carpool Karaoke-esque skit RuPaul Drives… for World of Wonder.