Throughout his blockbuster career, drag icon RuPaul Charles has built a personality on being the big, boisterous glamazon who fans have become accustomed to seeing on RuPaul’s Drag Race. But now, Ru is ready to let fans see the person behind the makeup.
via: Rolling Stone
RuPaul has announced a new memoir, The House of Hidden Meanings, which is set to hit bookshelves next year, March 5, 2024.
The House of Hidden Meanings will find RuPaul offering a frank chronicle of much of his life: His childhood as a Black queer kid in San Diego, growing up with an often difficult mother and largely absent father; his early days in the punk and drag scenes in Atlanta and New York; and his sobriety and relationship with husband Georges LeBar.
“I’ve always loved to view the world with analytical eyes, examining what lies beneath the surface,” RuPaul said of the book in a statement. “Here, the focus is on my own life — as RuPaul Andre Charles.”
A story in Vogue — featuring an interview with RuPaul — offered a few more details about the book, including the fact that it would only cover the first 40 years of RuPaul’s life and stop before the launch of Drag Race. RuPaul said writing the book was “very cathartic,” and allowed him the chance to reveal more of himself than he usually does: “I feel like I’ve kept up a poker face and held my cards close to my chest my whole life, and I still do that, because it’s a protection mechanism.”
He added: “It’s one of my navigational tools in life: to remember who you are, and then to share it with everyone—especially in a world where people are sometimes looking to tear you apart and to use your kindness against you, to say that you’re weak. But the opposite is true. Your vulnerability is where your real power is.”
The House of Hidden Meanings will mark RuPaul’s fourth book. His first, 1995’s Lettin’ It All Hang Out, was also an autobiography, while 2010’s Workin’ It! and 2018’s GuRu mixed elements of memoir and life guide.
