As a kid, I knew I would be famous. Cher, David Bowie, Diana Ross, Dolly Parton – I mixed all of those together and came up with who I would be. Early on, when I started my career in Atlanta, in 1982, it was a mecca for drag queens. Me and my friends were all punk rock – combat boots, smeared lipstick, ratty wigs and hairy chests. Then I moved to New York to make money, so I decided to glam it up. Then, when I started to get really serious and got a record deal, I did my Glamazon drag, which is what we do today. I started collaborating with the designer Zaldy in 1992 and boom! That was the beginning.

There’s so many places in the world where you’re not allowed to be gay and women aren’t allowed to have a voice. The Drag Race phenomenon is a celebration of people who have taken the opportunity, wherever they live, to express themselves. That is what the show really is about – the tenacity of the human spirit.

I think drag is like Clark Kent to Superman. Superman is about someone who has powers they haven’t quite discovered yet. And that is every human being on this planet. Everybody should do a version of their super-exaggerated drag, just to see what superpowers emerge once you put the costume on!