Trixie Mattel opens up about autoimmune disease diagnosis as she explains break from drag
Trixie Mattel has opened up about health issues she’s experienced due to overworking as she commences her break (Trixie Mattel/ YouTube)
Drag superstar Trixie Mattel has begun her break from drag, and explained what drove her to the point of needing the time away.
Trixie Mattel; you might have heard of her. The Wisconsin-born 34-year-old first appeared on season seven of RuPaul’s Drag Race in 2015, where she was eliminated in sixth place, despite becoming an instant fan favourite.
It was no surprise that she then later returned to win All Stars 3 a few years down the line – and she’s not stopped working since.
A makeup company (Trixie Cosmetics), a podcast (The Bald and the Beautiful), several TV shows (Queen of the Universe, may it rest in peace and Trixie Motel), multiple hosting gigs (The Pit Stop) and much much more later, and Trixie Mattel has become one of the most famous drag queens in the world.
That, she has explained in a new video posted to her YouTube channel titled “I’m Taking A Break! Here’s Why“, is exactly the reason why Mattel is ready for some time off.
The video served as a follow up to a series of goodbye tweets from Trixie, and speaking candidly to the camera, Mattel addressed fans on the perils of a work-life imbalance, explaining that she had begun to lose the joy in being Trixie.
“All my wildest dreams came true when I was in my mid-20s, doing Drag Race, travelling the world and making music and all that. It was the paychecks I always wanted, doing my dream job, and I just, over time, squeezed out my real life so fiercely, where all I was doing, was this,” she explained.
“You know when straight guys are all muscular at the top and have twig little legs at the gym? That was my work-life balance. It was all work and money-making and creative stuff, and then my social life, family life, perosnal life… twigs. Frail twigs. And the bigger the work things got, the smaller my real life things got.”
Trixie continued: “It is not so fierce to work yourself to death. It is not so fierce to work yourself into an autoimmune disorder. It is not so fierce to like… do so much drag as Trixie, that at a certain point, I literally started to feel like a Trixie impersonator.
“And then to be so lucky to do what I do, and not be appreciating it, it’s horrible. To disrespect the art form that I love so much, that I actually get to a place where I struggle to enjoy it?”
Trixie has recently opened up about experiencing health issues, including arthritis and temporomandibular joint disorder, a condition that affects the movement of the jaw.
She added that years of growing up poor influenced her relationship with money, and meant she felt guilty to take days off, saying: “I never dreamed of any of this. When all this started happening, that day off seemed so, ‘Sleep when you’re dead.’ But after ten years [of that], you start to get sick and feel horrible. The Trixie industry that I’ve created, as is, is not sustainable.
“Things happened this year… that just beat it out of me. It really put me in my place as a person, and taught me new lows of the human experience. And then suddenly things like getting in drag… Being a hard worker is fierce. Being a hard worker at the expense of your real life and health, is not fierce.”
Trixie also assured fans that her YouTube Channel wouldn’t be abandoned in her absence, telling the camera that “very famous, very iconic, very celebrated drag artists, makeup artists, performers” would be filling in for her in her stead – and thanked them for their support.
Ms. Tracey Martel also added that the break would be about three months long, with a return signposted for October 2024.
Fans can still catch her remaining Pit Stop episodes (the two-part finale for All Stars 9), as well as several pre-recorded videos ready to be released on her channel.
