Reality TV Star Adore Delano Comes Out as Transgender
Former "Drag Race" and "American Idol" contestant says she “loves life again” after coming out on Instagram last week.
Adore Delano, the reality TV star contestant best known for her appearances on RuPaul’s Drag Race and American Idol, came out as transgender to her 2 million Instagram followers last Wednesday.
In the video, which now has 1.5 million views and over 200,000 likes, the co-runner-up of Season 6 of Drag Race explained that she had been privately transitioning for about three months.
“There’s no way to start this video or this announcement or whatever without being awkward as hell,” Delano said as she started the video, explaining that comments online regarding her gender identity were one cause for the video.
“I wanted to let everybody know that I am transitioning, and I kept it really of hush-hush the first three months because I wanted to go through the beginning stages of the puberty privately,” she said. “I’ve found that it’s been very enlightening and has made me probably the happiest I’ve ever been in my adult life.”
The singer and reality star explained she had not felt as if she belonged as a child, leading her to turn to drugs and alcohol to “just drink it [the feeling] away,” in order to cope. She says that since becoming sober two years ago, she developed a greater sense of her gender identity.
“This a feeling from dysphoria to euphoria,” Delano said. “I’m not completely there, but I’m on the stairway to heaven.”
Delano explains that she first came out privately to her mother as bisexual at age 12, later identifying as gay, and eventually transgender as she began high school. Her mother’s support throughout her self-discovery helped her grow.
“She let me wear makeup, wear my corsets and my crop tops and my booty shorts and live the Freebird that I felt inside,” she shared in the video. At 16, Delano was selected for American Idol, but hid her identity, presenting herself as a boy on the show.
“I suppressed everything. I threw it away, I burned it. I tried to reinvent myself. It’’ something that I’m really good at doing as the Scorpio rising, but I reinvented myself into something that was so uncomfortable. It was almost like a sacrifice in order to get what I wanted career-wise,” she said. “It made sense to me at the time as a 16-year-old. And then I got on the show. And then that carried on to the storyline to Drag Race.”
This in-between phase, she describes, was tough but made her realize who she was.
“I love the transformation and the binary in-between the character and Danny [her birth name] if that makes any sense,” she said. “I tried to live, I really tried to live it, but it just did not code well with my spirit.”
However, Delano says she feels more connected to herself since beginning her transition.
“I am on my third month now on estrogen. And I’m not kidding, when I tell you, I am so chill. I love life again,” she said. “I feel almost like a kid going through puberty because I already have that childlike brain. But at the same time. I’m hopeful. I feel good.”
Delano has received support from several other Drag Race personalities. Judge Michelle Visage commented on the video, saying, “Texting you princesa!!!! I’m so happy for you could BURST.”
Courtney Act, who was runner-up alongside Delano on Season 6 of Drag Race, commented: “I accompany you on any journey,” and “I love you forever. My ride or die!”
Delano added that she may take some time away from social media at the end of this year to help her body recover from surgical interventions she plans to pursue, but promised to be more open about her journey.
“I feel like I’m giving my teenage self permission to be my true self now, and it feels so liberating,” she said. “I’m still your party girl, but I’m living in my world now.”
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