Evah Destruction conquered The Underworld, Broadway is next

PRIDE: Congratulations on an amazing season. This has been the culmination of years of hard work. How has the experience matched what you imagined? How has the reality of it differed?

Evah Destruction: I'm still spinning from the whole thing. This franchise has been a part of my life since 2019, and it's been such a long road of constantly challenging myself, pushing to be even better, go even further, to end up stopping short just before, twice. This time, I believed in myself so fiercely, and I had the package that was just right for the challenges, and I wanted to make sure that I left no question in their minds of who was going to be in the finale when it came to me. I think now that I've reached this point, it's kind of still shell-shocking to me — not because I ever doubted it.

I'm not the type of person who usually speaks very highly of themselves. I usually keep it very compartmentalized, and I just let the work speak for itself. Now, for the first time in my career, since I used to do pageants back in the day, when I lived in Atlanta, this is like, ‘oh my god, like I won a title. I won a new crown.’ It's on such a bigger scale that I find myself thinking, ‘I won! Now, what? What the hell do I even do now?’

I always wonder about that: when you achieve such a big dream, how much do you luxuriate in that achievement before you have to start finding a new dream?

My first step is to, of course, keep expanding upon my drag. Cleaning up and honing my sewing and my creative skills, seeing where I want to take that.

I've also been thinking about my other passion, which is theater: musical theater, doing plays, etc. I really want to pursue my passion of becoming a more professional actor, whether that's on stage, TV, or film. I'm not prejudiced, but I do prefer the stage. I was just thinking to myself, like, in the next five years, I really want to push for that, just to be able to have the opportunity to join the actors' union, or join more equity theaters, right? So I can join the struggling actor lifestyle, but also hopefully get paid a little bit in the process.

I feel like the separation between drag and Broadway is closing, and drag artists are getting more opportunities there. Do you see yourself following in the footsteps of drag artists who are going to Broadway?

I think we all need to thank Jinkx Monsoon for that, because seeing her debut as Matron ‘Mama’ Morton in Chicago immediately was like, this is becoming more possible for me to marry my drag with theater. And if I have to shave any other part of my body for a role, I will. I don't care, like, I'm not always a hairy queen!

I wanted to go to Juilliard, I wanted to pursue the craft; I wanted to do it. But then, given my life story and my experiences, theater had to take the backseat, and drag was my way of doing theater while I couldn't.

I remember when we were on the Titans season one tour back in 2023 we sold out the entire theater in L.A., and it was one of the biggest stages that I had ever performed on in drag. I just remember the whole theater ringing with applause, giving me my standing O, whatever. I was crying my eyes out after I got backstage, not so much out of joy, but because I had about like six stops during that tour, and that was my third, and I remember just bawling because I was like, ‘This is already halfway over for me. I don't want this to stop. This is where I belong. I love stages like this, and I've never imagined myself being on these stages ever in my career.' I remember Swan walking up to me, and she was like, ‘Oh my god, are you okay?’ And I was like, ‘No, I'm fine. I'm fine. I'm just sad, and I'm also happy, and I really don't want this to end. I love this tour.’ She was like, ‘I love you. But also make sure not to waste too much time doing this when you could be living this experience for what it is.’ And I was like, ‘You know what? Tea. But also, I'm gonna cry for five more minutes.’

And now you get to essentially co-headline the Titans tour. What do you have planned for that?

Well, first and foremost, I have to look incredible. I've got some ideas cooking around in my head, but I don't know. There's a part of me that wants to obviously feature one of my finale looks on the tour. I want one of my numbers to have the whole theater 101, reveals, gags, high energy, or even a monologue, or some type of choreography. And I'm definitely doing a Gaga number for the tour. She is my autistic fixation. She never gets old. She's always on repeat in my house, and she's my safe space. She's my theater kid, my comfort diva.

I love that! But let's take a step back and talk about the competition. From the moment you walked in the door, you were clocked as a heavy hitter. Was that flattering, or did it feel like more added pressure?

It didn't really phase me, to be honest, I’ll take it. I take it as a high compliment. I walked in knowing that my stuff was good. I put on this mindset, saying you don't have time to waste on any other shit, it is the crown or nothing right now. You have just crept up to that finish line twice. There should be no excuse for you not to be making the finale at this point. The whole heavy-hitter dialog, though, I think that it's a way of recognizing somebody's power, their energy, their drag, their talent. And I see that as a badge of honor.

This season of Titans was incredible, from the unbelievable floor shows to the drama that was so rooted in real interpersonal dynamics.

You're absolutely right. This season was very rooted in personal, emotional connections, and drama. So the minute I stepped in to walk on set, I left all of my shit at the door. I literally said, ‘This is all my baggage, I'm leaving it at the door, bitch.’ I have to drop everything and come in with the mindset saying, ‘We can be friends after this, right?’ I'm not playing around anymore.

I've studied every single season to a tee, and I've also taken and absorbed a lot of other people's critiques that weren't even my own, because it gives you a kind of insight into what they are looking for in regards to the floor show or even personality or attitude. And the things that they've told me is, ‘You need to own your power and use your words. And also, not be a wallflower, or you don't have to be too nice right now. You can speak up for yourself and defend yourself.’

I had a lot of friends walking in. I knew a lot of people. I've worked with this entire cast, practically, and I, you know, I kept it cute on the side, and I made sure to have those interpersonal connections with people. But as soon as the drama started up and people would come talk to me about people, I would immediately just [mimes closing her lips], ‘oh, yeah, oh, wow, right,’ but I would never give them an inch with any type of response that they would be able to take out of context or clock me later for saying, ‘Oh, well, you talk shit about these people too.’ You're not going to get me mama, not this time, absolutely not, because those microphones are still hot when we step off stage. I kind of went into this mode where I would step in to check on people and make sure that they were okay, or just hear their side of things, and then I would step back and just let everything unfold.

This was the most out-of-body experience for me, because I was so determined and so almost vengeful for myself that I adopted this new personality, this new attitude, or something where I was like, fuck it, try something new. Try something different this time. This is what you know to be your last time competing, because you don't want to be, you know, a repeat offender, like we see on other franchises.

I just took a big swig of that whole bitter cup of coffee that told me, you need to get it in gear, bitch, or else you're going to go home the nicey cutie, just like every other season.

Do you feel that attitude is something that’s relegated to competition space? Or is it something you’ve taken on permanently?

There's been a couple of lessons that I've learned. One is: Don't be afraid. Don't be afraid to tell people no, don't be afraid to not embellish when you say no to people. Don't apologize for saying no to people. Stand firm in your decisions, because at the end of the day, you're an adult and you can't get in trouble.

The second thing that I would say is one of my biggest things that I've been absorbing and listening to with the universe this entire year is: Don't fucking dwell on things you can't control, right? Like that is tomorrow, next week, next month, next year's problem, if it needs to be, but that can be handled on your time, not anybody else's, when it needs to or when it will happen.

How’s that impacted your relationships with your friends on the show?

Dollya [Black] had her experience during the season. I was afraid I was going to lose her as a friend after this season. But then...I checked in, and she responded. We caught up, we connected again. We're good, but I left that to the universe. I said, if that is meant to be, that will be, but right now, I cannot lose sleep over this. I still need to take care of myself first. [It’s] the same thing with Sigourney. I even reached out to her, and I said, ‘Hey, I'm just checking in on you, because I would not feel right if I didn't do that.’ And she said, ‘Thank you for checking in. I appreciate it, but I'm not ready for this yet.’ And I said, ‘heard and understood.’ She hearted the text message. And I was like, You know what? That's fine, whenever you're ready, I will be willing to have whatever conversation you want to have. At the end of the day, I played the competition the way that I wanted to, but it does not speak to the human being that I am off camera.

Do you have hope for reconciliation with Sigourney and in the future?

I'm always optimistic, and I always like to look at the glass half full when it comes to things like this. She knows that I'm a listener. I am not an irrational, unreasonable person when it comes to talking things out. I'm in the business for us to be friends again, if she so chooses, but that is her decision to make, not mine. If the future holds a day where we get to perform our work together, and we're fine and it's not awkward, that'll be a great day.

She's a beautiful, talented entertainer. So, regardless of what people think, I will always give that woman her 10s, her dues, everything, because she deserves it. She's put in the work.

I also really loved seeing your friendship with Abhora this season, and seeing you go to the finale together.

That is what I saw from the very beginning for the two of us. I said, we will be in the finale together, so let's make that happen. We had a beautiful season together where Abhora just had this sort of like butterfly out of a cocoon moment where they really matured and calmed down since season one of Titans. And they had a cleaner run. They had a less emotionally traumatic run. And so seeing them walk into the finale felt like this shared moment between the two of us, where it was like, I see you for who you are, and you have earned this. Let's do this shit together, and let's battle it out.

You can't ever make me hate that person, ever. They are just such a genius. Abhora is the most creative person that I have ever known in my entire life. They make a huge something out of nothing practically. They're just this never-ending evolution of like this scarecrow bird creature that haunts your nightmares, but then also knows how to make you laugh, also makes you feel something. They are an artist, through and through, and they continuously inspire me all the time.

This interview has been lightly edited for length and clarity.