Princess Poppy realized many a drag queen’s dream when she was cast on season 15 of RuPaul’s Drag Race, but in the time since she was eliminated in episode three, she’s essentially disappeared from social media. Now she’s opening up about why she’s stepping back from the limelight and why fame just isn’t for her.
While appearing on Entertainment Weekly’s Quick Drag podcast, the drag star confessed that after two months of reflection, she concluded that she wants to, “fall off the face of the planet. I don’t want to be famous, I want to fade into obscurity.”
“That’s not a bad thing,” she continued. “I think people put so much emphasis on success and fame and it’s OK not to want to be famous. It’s totally valid to not want to be known by a bunch of people. That’s just not what I want. I don’t want that for my life.”
While she promises this isn’t the end of Princess Poppy forever, she will be pulling back for the foreseeable future, after likely making an appearance at DragCon in May. “Princess Poppy is always going to be there. I’m always going to do it, but it’s probably going to be a lot less frequent,” she says. “Touring and doing drag all the time is really rough, it’s tough on your body, and if you’re not loving every minute, then it’s difficult.”
The truth is, she had already realized that she wasn’t comfortable with all the fame and attention before Drag Race even started airing in January. “I feel like I got very burned out from doing the show and the experience. I went onto the show knowing that I’m not great with social media, and I don’t overly enjoy that aspect of the career of drag.... it just became a lot, and I removed myself from it. I’m glad that I did because I probably wouldn’t be as happy as I am now without doing that,” she explained. “I want to be left alone, I want to chill, I want to vibe. Drag, to me, as a career, wasn’t always a long-term thing. I went into this process knowing that I don’t want to pursue drag full-time, forever.”
That being said, she’s proud to have been a part of Drag Race and is grateful for the friendships she’s made with other queens as a result.
We applaud Princess for knowing what’s best for her and prioritizing her mental health and happiness.
