Season 14 of RuPaul’s Drag Race has already made history for featuring the most trans contestants in a single season. Several weeks into the ongoing season, Bosco and Jasmine Kennedie joined Kerri Colby and Kornbread “The Snack” Jeté in publicly representing their trans identities. And in a tweet posted Thursday evening (March 3), Willow Pill shared with her fans that she now openly identifies as trans femme, while simultaneously leaving herself some room for the future. “I’m still not sure where I fit on the spectrum, for now I just say trans femme, but I also don’t have to know now,” they wrote.
The Chicago queen, who originally hails from Denver, said that they’ve been “not happy” with their gender identity for a while. They added that they never delved further into that unhappiness thanks to their existing medical PTSD over their diagnosis with cystinosis, a rare genetic disorder that can cause damage to the kidneys, eyes, muscles, throat, pancreas and more.
“It’s taken me a long time to come to terms with my transness because so much space has been taken up by my illness,” she wrote. “My condition has caused me so much physical and emotional pain that my body became something I always wanted out of. Eventually, hating my body for failing me and hating myself for not being a girl was so constant and intertwined that it felt totally normal. I know it’s not my fault, just the way I’ve learned to survive.”
Willow attributed the realization of their transness to “being on Drag Race and feeling euphoria being Willow for the first time since quarantine,” and went on to reveal they have since had some cosmetic surgery done to make their face “a bit more feminine.”
However, the star went on to add that fans of theirs looking to follow their progress should be warned that she’s taking things very slow at the moment. “Transitioning with a chronic illness is not simple,” she wrote. “Any further medicalization of my body scares me because of my medical PTSD. I’m currently discussing a very low dose of hormones with my doctor and will have to take things very slow because I’m on a variety of intense medications. It may be that it’s not for me because my health comes first but I want to try.”
Closing out their post, Willow updated their fans with their preferred pronouns, and thanked them for their support. “For now, I go by Willow in and out of drag with they/she pronouns, though I know this experience isn’t linear,” she wrote. “I’m starting to finally feel bits of happiness with my face and body, and that’s a start. I love y’all so much!”
The post comes as an update after Willow spoke in the last episode of Untucked about her shifting feelings toward her gender identity. In the clip, Willow said that she wasn’t sure where she was at when it came to her gender identity. “Now that I’m getting older, I have to build this relationship with my body, and I’m learning what do I like, what do I not like, what do I feel connected to?” they said. “I think I’ve been happy because I’ve just been able to see myself the way I want to see myself.”
Check out Willow’s full coming-out post, along with her Untucked moment, below.
— Willow Pill (@WillowPillQueen) March 3, 2022
“I think I’ve been happy because I’ve just been able to see myself the way I want to see myself” – @willowpillqueen 💕#DragRace pic.twitter.com/tKg7I6INhr
— World of Wonder (@WorldOfWonder) February 26, 2022
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Tagged: Culture, entertainment blog, music blog, Pride, RuPaul's Drag Race