Conchita Wurst: Some people think I’m a trans woman

Eurovision winner Conchita Wurst has spoken about people assuming that she is a trans woman, but says she is “very strict about the difference”.

In an interview with the Guardian, Wurst, who will this year act as a host for Eurovision after winning the competition for Austria in 2014, also said she would often wear a skirt to kindergarten when she was a child.

On being confused with a trans woman, Wurst said “I am happy being a man in a dress.”

She went on to say: “I’m strict about the difference. What I do is performance, it’s staged, it’s glamour – it’s not real life. But for trans people, being born in the wrong body – there’s nothing glamorous or easy about that.”

On wearing a skirt to schoo, Wurst said: “I was actually a very confident little kid. I would go to kindergarten in a skirt. I don’t remember how the other children reacted. My mum says she would wait around after dropping me off because she expected everyone would laugh, but I never came back out.”

“I don’t fulfil the assumptions made of a mainstream drag queen. People say they’re confused by how calm and quiet I am. When I created Conchita I thought there were expectations of me and I was very loud, and I had this bitchiness that some drag artists have, which I think is hilarious, but it wasn’t me. I realised it’s fine to be another type of drag queen,” she continued.

She previously said being bullied at school for wearing a dress was “very tough for me”.

Conchita has become a champion for LGBT rights since winning Eurovision last year – performing at both the United Nations and European Parliament.

At the 60th anniversary Eurovision show she also took to the stage alongside Israeli star Dana International – the first transgender woman to win Eurovision.

The pair performed a cover of ABBA’s hit ‘Waterloo’ holding hands, as part of a medley of Eurovision songs.

The 60th Eurovision Song Contest will take place in Vienna, on May 23.