Think of a drag queen, think of RuPaul, the man who is easily America’s most commercially successful drag queen. He has more firsts to his name than we could document. As a matter of fact, no other drag queen-related show is as popular as his RuPaul’s Drag Race which has aired internationally across Europe for over 11 seasons since its premiere on the 2nd of February 2009.
The show earned him back-to-back Emmy Awards for Outstanding Host for a Reality or Reality-Competition Program in 2016 and 2017. In addition to hosting the show, RuPaul is also a singer, actor, and model. Here is everything you need to know about the man regarded as America’s most famous drag queen.
RuPaul Biography, How Old is He?
RuPaul could have just been named Paul, but his mother Ernestine Toni Charles just loved the way roux sounded (P.S: roux is a mixture of flour and fat used to thicken sauces) so he named him RuPaul. He is sometimes referred to as just “Ru”. His full name is RuPaul Andre Charles and he was born in San Diego, California, on November 17, 1960. His parents divorced when he was a child, about 7 years old and Ru would come to spend the rest of his childhood with his mother and three sisters…which sort of explains his feminity.
Ru was very fond of one of his sisters, Renetta and at the age of 15 years old, he relocated with her to Atlanta, Georgia where he began studying performance arts. After receiving due training, Ru began pursuing a career in entertainment and became a part of underground cinema. In addition to acting, Ru also began singing and performed at various nightclubs with the drag image. He later relocated to New York City. By the mid-1990s, RuPaul’s prominence had surged enough to earn him an endorsement deal from MAC Cosmetics.
His single “Supermodel (You Better Work)” from his 1993 debut album was his first big hit charting on the Billboard Hot 100. Following the album’s success was his first talk show, The RuPaul Show where he conducted celebrity interviews. He also began hosting a radio show on WKTU with Michelle Visage. Despite delving into TV and films, Ru continued to make new music. Over the years he has released at least 14 studio albums.
Some of Ru’s notable films include The Brady Bunch Movie (1995), But I’m a Cheerleader (1999), and Hurricane Bianca (2016). In addition to his show, Ru has appeared in a number of other TV shows including Netflix’s Girlboss. Ru has authored at least two books. Outside drag, he has appeared as a man in some film roles.
Net Worth
Music, Television, Film, Modelling, and Endorsement deals are the major sources of RuPaul’s income. However, his reality TV show remains his biggest moneymaker. The show has spawned two successful spin-offs. He launched his debut make-up line in collaboration with Colorevolution in the fall of 2013.
While the total value of his wealth has been estimated between $10 and $16 million, we are yet to substantiate any of the figures.
Wife or Husband, Is He Gay?
RuPaul’s sexuality isn’t news to the world. He is proudly a gay man and has been as far back as the mid-1990s. He began dating Georges LeBar, the man who is now his husband in 1994. Born on January 24, 1973, Georges LeBar is of Australian descent and unlike Ru, couldn’t care less about the spotlight which could be one of the reasons that Ru rarely speaks about him to the media.
RuPaul’s husband is a painter and a ranch owner. He owns a massive ranch in Wyoming that spans across two states. The couple met on the dance floor at Limelight, an infamous nightclub in New York City. According to Ru, LeBar was dancing like a maniac on the dance floor when he approached him to find out what he was going through. It turned out that LeBar was ecstatic about his new year, that day happened to be his birthday. It was in 1994 and the couple kicked things off since then and have remained devoted to each other.
In 2015, Ru told Buzzfeed that he wasn’t considering marriage and was okay with having LeBar as just a devout partner. However, as it is said, time changes things, and by January 2017, the couple tied the knot in a private ceremony. Their wedding happened on the exact day they met, that is LeBar’s birthday, 23 years later. Ru waited two months after their union before announcing to the media in March 2017 that he had married LeBar.
