Singer and former RuPaul’s Drag Race star Adore Delano is sharing some personal news with her fans. On Wednesday, the 33 year-old shared a video on Instagram detailing her coming out as transgender.
The Instagram video was captioned: "It’s time we have 'the talk.'"
“There’s no way to start this video or this announcement or whatever without being awkward as hell,” Delano began. "I just want to explain everything that's happening the past few months.
"So, I wanted to let everybody know that I am transitioning. And I kept it really kind of hush-hush the first three months because I wanted to go through the beginning stages of the puberty privately. But I’ve found that it’s been very enlightening, and has made me probably the happiest I’ve ever been in my adult life.”
Adore proceeded to share a bit about her childhood journey with identity and gender.
“It really starts back from when I was a little kid, just not feeling like I belonged anywhere, at all,” she shared. “Didn’t know what this body was that God gave me thought that I would just make the best of it. I thought that I would just work with what God gave me and be okay with that for a decade. But it was just not enough for my mental stability. And the feelings of just being an absolute other gender.”
However, Delano assured fans that her mother was very supportive when she came out as trans and encouraged her to dress however she liked. But when she auditioned on American Idol, the singer decided to “reinvent” herself and “supress everything” about her identity.
"I threw it away, I burned it," she said. "I reinvented myself into something that was so uncomfortable. It was almost like a sacrifice in order to get what I wanted career-wise. It made sense to me at the time, as a 16-year-old, and then I got on the show, and that carried on in the story on Drag Race."
After being eliminated on Idol, Delano returned to her identity and began dressing more femme presenting. Then she appeared on Drag Race season where she “fell in love” with drag.
Delano also shared plans to undergo surgery in November and that she may look a little bit different. She finished the video by confirming her preferred pronouns amid the news.
"I am transgender," she said. "I'm going by she/her. They still feels a little cute, but she/her just feels yummy on this cupcake."
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