Drag Race star A’keria C Davenport shares gender journey: ‘I used to live my life as a transgender woman’
A’keria C Davenport performs during Paramount+ & RuPaul’s Drag Race All Stars Cast Celebrate The S6 Premiere At Drive n’ Drag at Randall’s Island Park on 26 June 2021. (Photo by Monica Schipper/Getty Images for Paramount+)
Drag Race All Star A’keria C Davenport opened up to her fellow queens about how she once lived as a trans woman and her journey to self-discovery.
In this week’s All Stars 6 episode, RuPaul tasked the queens with creating their own version of Jada Pinkett Smith’s Red Table Talks, which features open discussions on “taboo” topics with three generations of the Smith family.
A’keria, Eureka O’Hara and Trinity K Bonet were assigned to talk about “sex”.
After Eureka opened the “Pink Table Talk”, Trinity discussed living with HIV and wanting to break the stigma.
A’Keria then revealed that she used to live as a woman named as “Kiki”. But she clarified that she “re-transitioned” and now lives her life outside of drag as a man.
Eureka asked A’keria if she “ever had sex in drag”. A’keria said that “Kiki definitely had sex in drag” in her “heyday”, explaining: “I used to live my life as a transgender woman, believe it or not. So that’s who Kiki is, honey.”
She continued: “But now I have re-transitioned to living my life as a guy.
“But as you know, I had my body done so the bottom half of me is very feminine shaped.
“It’s that ass almighty, girl. Some people are infatuated by it, but they’re not sexually attracted to it.”
A’keria C Davenport attends RuPaul’s DragCon LA 2019 at Los Angeles Convention Center on 25 May 2019 in Los Angeles, California. (Photo by Rodin Eckenroth/Getty Images)
Drag Race All Stars 6 didn’t air A’keria’s full story
A’keria, who first appeared on Drag Race season 11, elaborated on Twitter, telling fans All Stars “didn’t air all” of the conversation about Kiki.
She explained “part of the reason” she thought she was trans is because she was “trying to fill [a] void of being love and accepted”.
“I would always get a false sense of love when I was on stage, and the children lived for A’keria so I thought maybe if I keep A’keria on I would constantly hear the applause and I would keep feeling ‘loved or wanted’,” she wrote.
Maybe if I keep A’keria on I would constantly hear the applause and I could keep feeling “loved” or “wanted”! It took me to go through that experience to not only find myself but to know who I truly was and wanted to be, to know I was enough. I faced the same obstacles >
— Akeria The SCARLET WITCH Davenport (@A_doubleC_D) July 16, 2021
The experience helped her find out who she “truly was and wanted to be”, and know that she “was enough”.
“I faced the same obstacles most trans [people] face (esp those of color),” A’keria added, “and that’s why I will now and forever advocate and dedicate everything in me to protect them.”
Despite their conversation being praised by fans, A’keria’s group weren’t chosen as this weeks winners.
Ginger Minj was named the top All Star, going on to win the lip sync battle against assassin Mayhem Miller, giving her the power to eliminate Scarlet Envy.
Drag Race All Stars 6 is streaming on WOW Plus and Netflix.
