The Vivienne wasn’t just a Drag Race winner – she was one of the UK’s most well-rounded entertainers

From 2019 onwards, James Lee Williams AKA The Vivienne, who has died at the age of 32, was best known as the winner of the inaugural season of RuPaul’s Drag Race UK.

Across nine episodes, The Vivienne cemented herself as one of the most well-rounded queens in the Drag Race history books, delivering an unmatched impression of Donald Trump for Snatch Game, stomping the runway in some of the season’s most polished looks, and tackling each challenge with the poise of a seasoned entertainment powerhouse. 

Yet to define all of Williams’ success by their albeit star-making appearance on Drag Race is to undermine their broad skillset, and status as one of the UK’s top talents on the rise. 

Beginning drag in 2007, The Vivienne – who adopted the name due to their penchant for dressing “head to toe” in Vivienne Westwood – carved a path for British drag stars some years before her Drag Race appearance. In 2015, in a contest judged by TV legends including Jonathan Ross, Katie Price, and RuPaul, The Vivienne was crowned the first (and only) official “RuPaul’s Drag Race UK Ambassador”.

Years later, she would appear on TV shows as a star of similar stature to those who judged her during that contest. Her final television appearance, which aired during the Christmas period, was BBC’s Blankety Blank, on which she was a celebrity contestant alongside Ross, Oti Mabuse, and Jane McDonald – an appearance that was sadly overshadowed by toxic, homophobic, anti-drag online discourse after the episode aired.

Post-Drag Race, Williams as The Vivienne became a television fixture. Alongside Blankety Blank, she appeared on a string of game shows and competition series including Celebrity Juice, The Great British Sewing Bee, Celebrity Karaoke Club, Celebrity Hunted and Ant and Dec’s Saturday Night Takeaway, to name but a few. In 2023, they made history for a third time, after appearing as the first drag contestant on ITV’s much-loved competition series, Dancing On Ice.

It was at the time the biggest British competition show outside of Drag Race to sign up a drag queen contestant and The Vivienne excelled, shimmying and sashaying her way to the final three with her professional partner, Colin Grafton. Her Dancing On Ice success arrived during a period of intense anti-drag sentiment, ignited by the attempted ban on drag in Tennessee and permeating right-wing, anti-LGBTQ+ circles in the UK. She knew her visibility on the show mattered.

“This has suddenly become more than a skating competition. It’s become a statement for our community, to show the world that we are just having fun,” she told PinkNews back in 2023. “Drag has been around since the dawn of time.” Through her artistry, she played an indelible role in continuing to normalise queerness in mainstream, British entertainment.

Williams was born in Colwyn Bay in Wales on 12 April 1992, before moving to Liverpool aged 16. It was there that Williams’ early drag career began to blossom at venues including Superstar Boudoir, and where they developed their staunchly Scouse take on the artform.

“My style is like a scouse wife who has come into money, she moved to LA and blew it all and then she’s had to move back to Liverpool,” she once described herself, while in episode one of Drag Race UK, she paid homage on the runway to her idol, Liverpool legend Pete Burns. She won the challenge, and from that moment on, her Drag Race victory – and inevitable ascent in the entertainment world – seemed set in stone. 

It’s impossible that Drag Race UK would have become the reality TV heavyweight it is today without The Vivienne’s presence on season one. She was a commanding queen, confident in her abilities yet supremely funny with it. “I can sing, I look good, I’m funny as f**k and I can drink a whole bottle of Jägermeister in 20 seconds flat,” she once said of her own, impressively varied skills.

She blended traditional, comedy-focussed British drag with the gleam of drag of the digital Drag Race age, becoming an instant fan favourite. Her boundless charisma and no-nonsense attitude saw her find favour both with queer fans, and mainstream audiences who first found drag through the reality show. 

It was her Donald Trump impersonation that secured her the highest praise on Drag Race, becoming so well-loved among the fandom that she revived it for spin-off web shows including Morning T&T with her friend fellow drag star Baga Chipz, and Trump Learns Things. It’s likely one of the leading reasons she was asked back to the competition for All Stars 7 in 2022, the first UK queen to grace the US franchise, where she once again excelled across comedy, acting, fashion, and singing challenges.

Fans had the sense that Williams suffered no fools. In 2023, after experiencing a violent homophobic hate crime attack in a McDonald’s in Liverpool, they spoke defiantly about never wanting to ‘hide or edit” themself as “a proud gay man”, and spoke out against the paltry 12-week suspended sentence the perpetrator Alan Whitfield received.

Yet they were unafraid to be vulnerable too, speaking openly about the “stress, anguish and ongoing trauma” the attack had on their life. Williams had also candidly shared their experience of overcoming drug addiction prior to their rise to fame, routinely poking fun at it with zingy quips on and off Drag Race.

With an increasingly large number of drag performers rising to fame, it’s a challenge for even the best to continue conquering their career goals. Yet The Vivienne’s résumé continued to grow, with appearances on dramas including Emmerdale and This Is Going To Hurt, and music projects such as her 2022 EP, Bitch on Heels.

Last year saw them see their “dream come true” as they played The Wicked Witch of the West in The Wizard of Oz, both in the West End’s Gillian Lynne Theatre and on the show’s UK and Ireland tour. Their “dream” of musical theatre stardom was realised once again in late 2024, when she was cast as the Childcatcher in the touring production of Chitty Chitty Bang Bang. She was, without doubt, one of the UK’s most versatile and promising stars, set for exceptional things.

For evidence of the fact, one need look no further than the outpouring of grief and tributes from across the entertainment industry. 

She touched the lives of soap stars like Patsy Palmer and Antony Cotton, TV presenting royalty including Lorraine Kelly, Rylan and Maya Jama, musicians from Ariana Grande to Ashley Roberts, and theatre stars like Marisha Wallace and Aston Merrygold. And, of course, every Drag Race star she encountered, who have described her as a “rockstar”, “the sweetest”, “the brightest light” and “the most incredible friend”.

The UK entertainment industry has undoubtedly lost one of its brightest, most multi-talented stars. James Lee Williams will be sorely and deeply missed – by their family, their friends, and their huge legion of loving fans.