EDGE Interview: See Why 'Everybody Loves Jujubee'

If you've ever seen "RuPaul's Drag Race," and who hasn't, you've most certainly seen Jujubee – and often. The Boston-based drag performer was a contestant on Season 2, as well as Seasons 1 and 5 of "RuPaul's Drag Race All Stars" and spinoffs like "Drag U" and "Dragnificent!" She also appeared on "RuPaul's Drag Race: UK vs. the World" and the "American Idol"-like spinoff "Queen of the Universe." She is quick to point out that she holds the record for the most top 3 (finishes) so far and likes to refer to herself as "The highest-rated 3rd place drag queen in the world" and "the Susan Lucci of drag."

The self-proclaimed "second runner-up" (she thinks it sounds more fancy) has parlayed her appearances on "Drag Race" into an amazing career that has taken her to exotic places like the Philippines, South Africa and Mobile, Alabama, where the barbecue is especially good. Her journey from humble beginnings to drag stardom is fascinating, funny and heartwarming.

The next stop on this journey is Provincetown, where she will be debuting her new show "Everybody Loves Jujubee" at the Art House Theater on July 31-August 3. (For ticket information, follow this link). Soon after the show, and some much-needed time in her cherished garden, Jujubee will be making her Off-Broadway debut in "Drag: The Musical" beginning September 30 at New World Stages in New York City.

Recently EDGE had the chance to chat with Jujubee about her upcoming show in Ptown and her life in and out of drag.

EDGE: Tell me about the first time you did drag?

Jujubee: It was a Halloween party in Nashua New Hampshire at my friend Liz's friend's house. Drag wasn't planned but her friend Chris was a drag queen and he wanted to put me in drag. I felt really weirded out about it, but when he put makeup on me I was like 'oh my God. I felt pretty.' This was the first time in my life I felt beautiful. This brought out a different world for me. It just clicked. I created a character. Inside it felt weird and strange because I'm a boy and boys should always dress like boys and here I was dressed in girls clothes. But it had to continue.

Not soon after that Chris invited me to one of their shows at (I think) a restaurant called Icon. I was 16. They put me in drag and I guess when you're in drag they didn't check ids. I got to watch this drag show and thought this isn't that hard. They're just walking around lip-syncing. I did my first performance that night to Whitney Houston's "Heartbreak Hotel."

EDGE: How did you get the name Jujubee?

Jujubee: I did Monday amateur drag night at Access in Boston over and over until I won. And when I did, Mizery announced the winner is Jujubee. I was like 'who the hell is Jujubee, she's not on the roster.' Mizery came over to me and said "you're Jujubee now." I hated the name for years, but it started a different side of drag for me. Before it was just a hobby, but it was becoming more for me. I was working at Jacques, the original Manray and Access. I started to dabble more in makeup working at the MAC counter at Macy's and then "Drag Race" happened.

EDGE: How did you get to "Drag Race?"

Jujubee: Friends saw this new show called "RuPaul's Drag Race" that was auditioning people and told me I should make an audition tape. At this point I didn't want to do drag anymore. I was just busy working. I didn't know what I wanted to do with my life, but it wasn't drag. I auditioned anyway and I got it. It's been an amazing ride. I knew I always wanted to be a performer but it's not the type of performance I would be doing.

I always thought it was icky and weird because I didn't know anything about it. Drag taps into the feminine part of my life. I've always been a really feminine man and I know in my heart that I am a man. But drag opened up my world. And when I got on Drag Race I got to reexperience the butterflies in the tummy feeling I got the first time I did drag.

EDGE: What was it like when you got there?

Jujubee: It was exciting for me. It was my first experience on a set. I'd never experienced anything like this before. They sequester you in a hotel. You're by yourself. They take your phone. It's like your first day at work when you want to be on your best behavior, but you can't ask questions because everything's a secret. The reality show begins as soon as you land. When I was on Season Two. We could only refer to it as a competition, not a show.

When you're not on set filming you are alone in your room. You can't leave your room. Whatever you need, they will bring to you. There was a person in the hallway making sure you didn't leave. Any getting to know each other happened on camera, which makes sense.

EDGE: How did you know what to bring in terms of outfits?

Jujubee: You pack four suitcases, and they give you a list of what you would potentially need. They never tell you for sure what's needed. Back then all the queens were just pulling from our own closets. I just borrowed things. I don't think I spent a dime. All of us were wearing clothes that we bought from the mall. Now designers are hired. Out of drag we were just wearing shorts and flipflops, now they're wearing Balenciaga.

EDGE: Do you have any idea about the competitions beforehand?

Jujubee: You get there that morning, and you don't know what they're going to do. I think now they get an idea of what's going to happen. They've all watched the show, you know the challenges. I don't know how to sew but I can thread a needle, turn the machine on. I did end up making the things I wore and didn't go home that day, so I guess it was okay. The secret to any of these shows is it has to last enough long for the runway.

EDGE: So nobody's hooking up after hours?

Jujubee: There's no fraternizing outside of on set. We're tired by the end of filming. When we get back home it's a fast dinner, more than likely it's fast food, and we just go to bed. We were too scared to break the rules in Season Two. We didn't know anything. I had a TV in my room, but never turned it on. I think we were there for 21 days and right in the middle of my first season Michael Jackson died. I didn't know until I got out. It was like being in rehab, only drag rehab.

EDGE: Do you feel like it has changed a lot since the beginning?

Jujubee: I think it's interesting how "Drag Race" has grown and become so mainstream now. For our community it's been here for 15 years. The mainstream media just noticed it when it started to win Emmys. And they continue to win them, so they know it's something great.

EDGE: Where do you get your clothes now?

Jujubee: I work with a few awesome designers. One recently is my friend Travis (M. Grant) who is a designer for theater. I met him when I was in "Rodgers & Hammerstein's Cinderella" at the North Shore Music Theatre. I was the evil stepmother. I'm actually wearing one of the outfits he made me in the Ptown show. He's really classy. I like to think Jujubee is classy now. She used to be kind of slutty.

EDGE: I always thought she was classy.

Jujubee: Thank you. I think in the 80s I grew up watching those gowns that were way over the top and the big hair. That's very much my drag. Now that these new skinny girls are there, they look really great but it's like talking to a doorknob. The doorknob's unlocked but nobody wants to go in. When you do go in, it's a room with no furniture and one flickering light. (Giggles)

EDGE: Do they look at you as the old guard, competition?

Jujubee: Nobody sees me as competition. Everybody calls me Antie Juju, even if they're older. I have single aunt energy. You know, the one without kids. The one with cats. She doesn't drink anymore because she's had trouble with the bottle, but she'll buy you alcohol. She buys the best presents. She has money because she doesn't have kids. That's me. Philippine kids call me auntie in or out of drag.

EDGE: Are you competition for them?

Jujubee: Fuck yes, I am. But they don't have to think so. There's enough work for everyone, but when you want Jujubee you ask for Jujubee.

EDGE: What is your work life like now?

Jujubee: I'm working all the time and really happy about that. I have a great management team and they take great care of me. I now do this version of drag, the nightclub version, but you kind of outgrow it. I can't stay up really late anymore. It wears on you. I'm doing more theatrical projects. I'm at a place where I get to pick and choose what I do. Don't get me wrong, I'll go to the opening of an envelope. But I don't have to if I don't want to.

I joke around a lot but I am very very grateful that RuPaul chose me to be in the competition. It really did change the whole way my life has played out. I know I'm old, but I'm young. I have a lot of life left. It's been so awesome. I've gotten to see parts of the world I didn't really know existed. I never imagined performing in Cambodia, Singapore or South Africa. But I have because of "Drag Race." I got to perform in Mobile, Alabama. I never imagined that one. It was a very loving crowd. They have great barbecue there.

EDGE: Who comes to your shows in small, more conservative places?

Jujubee: You always know in small towns the audience is going to be great because they really want to be there. I remember doing a gig in the South for a few hundred people. It was their Pride. There was one family with generations of people there and only one identified with being queer. They all came out for the one gay kid. Hate exists but love overrules it. For some reason, hate speaks louder than love does, but I think love always overrules hate.

EDGE: Are you friends with Ru Paul? Do you hang out at all?

Jujubee: I don't think anybody hangs out with RuPaul. She's busy working all the time. I did make her pull my finger once and I farted. She looked at me and said, "you bitch" and just started laughing. She's a funny lady. They served beans that day. I couldn't help myself. I guess I can lie and say we have dinners every Sunday together. Just kidding. LOL. She wishes.

EDGE: What is your life like away from the "Drag Race" spotlight?

Jujubee: I garden a lot. I bought my house a couple years ago and I cut down four trees. The neighbors all went wild until I planted 38 new trees. And only 3 died. Gardening is a place where I don't have to think about anything and I get to put down roots into the earth and they're going to stay. I like to think they're there for me, but they won't be fabulous for a long time. Maybe I'm teaching them to be fabulous. I talk to them all the time.

I love watching the birds, relaxing and meditating, enjoying the flowers. I think the whole thing makes my neighbors very curious about me. They're older and pretty conservative. Once I added the landscape I wasn't so foreign to them. My landscaping isn't just helping me to relax and meditate. It's also brought up the value of their homes. I've looked, honey, and their property values have gone up! They should thank Juju.

EDGE: Do people recognize you out of drag?

Jujubee: It's very different when I'm out of drag. If they recognize me in drag, I have to turn it on. That's what they expect. But when I'm in the market or something I just present myself as I am. They usually just want to say hello and maybe get a picture. I'm always happy to do the picture.

EDGE: Being on "Drag Race," you are part of a very unique club. Is there any sort of sisterhood of "Drag Race" alums?

Jujubee: There is. I think there's probably little cliques of it among the queens who shared the same season. But like the world knows, I've been on so many seasons I'm connected to so many of these bitches. I have many, many very good friends. Raven and I send each other cat vids and dog vids all the time. We shared this important experience, 3 weeks without the world, it's pretty special. We had no idea what it was going to be. I think now the queens, especially the ones who've never done it before, come in with a different mindset. We thought we were going to compete and go back to work. Now they know they can make money out of it, so they're trying to max what they can do in a year. They plan out their little catchphrases and their merchandise. It's really smart.

EDGE: You have 1.1M Instagram followers. How did that happen?

Jujubee: I don't know why. I just post pictures of cats. It's pretty random and I like it like that. Maybe that's why people gravitate toward me. I don't curate my social media to anything but who I am and what I do. I'm a pretty vulnerable person so I've allowed myself to open up in that sense. There's really nothing to hide anymore. Why? There's no reason to.

EDGE: Do you ever get any haters online?

Jujubee: I'm always just like, 'mom you don't have to say that.' Sometimes with the haters I actually get a little curious and look at what they've said to other people. It's almost always hate, so it's not about me. I know they've probably not gone to therapy. I think most haters are only that way on the internet. They would never come up to me and say things in person.

EDGE: You recently had a big birthday. How did you celebrate?

Jujubee: June 21st was my 40th. It was the first day of summer, summer solstice and the strawberry full moon. So, like a crazy person, I laid out all my crystals in the garden. They're still out there. I forgot all about them. Another full moon has happened since so I guess they're all charged up.

I came to Ptown for my 40th and I swam in the ocean. My boyfriend and friends got me a Carvel ice cream cake, which is something I've always wanted but we were too poor. I waited 40 years for it. They didn't even know I wanted that. It was great. People spend all this time traveling thousands of miles to celebrate. I got to spend time with people I love in a place that I love.

EDGE: What can we expect from your new show, "Everybody Loves Jujubee?"

Jujubee: It's going to be a silly, fun show. I don't take things too seriously. I'm going to tell stories, sing live with my music partner, Tony Ni on piano. People are going to love him more than they love me. We may have to change the name of the show to Everybody loves Tony Ni.

EDGE: Anything special for Ptown?

Jujubee: No. (Laughs) I never glue my wig down. For the first time you're going to get a fully glued down drag queen so you won't have to look at my sideburns all night. It's not the happiest type of music, it's really based on my experiences as a gay, feminine, left-handed Laotian. But I think people will relate and there'll be plenty of laughs. It's going to be fun.

EDGE: "Drag: The Musical" is coming to Off-Broadway.

Jujubee: Yes! It's coming in the fall to New World Stages in Hell's Kitchen. It's an historic building. I think "RENT" played there. It's a musical about two rival drag houses across the street from each other. It's not just about drag queens being snarky. There are real life situations within the show. It's a beautiful script.

What I love about it is that it's all new. Everything in it was written for this show. It's quintessential musical theater. There's singing and some dancing; I don't dance but I pretend I can. There's a lot of musicals about queens, but this has drag queens who are actually acting. We know how to do drag. I guess you could call us Method actors. We live the life, sweetie pie. You're going to love it. It'll make you cry.

EDGE: When you look back at your life so far, what are you most proud of?

Jujubee: Honestly, I think I am most proud of my house. I've worked really hard and the reason I was able to purchase my house was drag. Because of RuPaul, I was able to travel the world, save money and buy a house. We grew up poor. My biggest dream was to own a house because we never owned one. And now It's mine. A place to call home.

EDGE: If you could go back and change anything, what would that be?

Jujubee: I don't know if I live a life of regrets. I think the only answer is that I wouldn't. I sit in a place of stillness and solitude and I believe that I'm exactly who I am right now because of everything that has happened.

"Everybody Loves Jujubee" is at The Art House, 214 Commercial Street, Provincetown, MA. July 31 – August 3. For more information, visit The Art House website.

For more on Jujubee, visit www.jujubeeonline.com.