Kade Gottlieb Interviews His Drag Persona Gottmik | GLAMOUR UNFILTERED

Hi, you guys, I am Kade Gottlieb.

And I'm Gottmik.

And this is our Glamour Unfiltered.

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Okay, so what does it mean to be

the first trans male on RuPaul's Drag Race?

It means so much to me that I'm the first trans male

to compete on RuPaul's Drag Race,

just because I have always been looking for...

someone like me in the media, and the fact that I went on

my favorite TV show of all time and was able to be that

for so many people is just mind blowing to me to this day

and I'm so proud.

What have been your key turning points in your journey

of self-expression to who you are today?

I think some of the key turning points to me

were definitely, obviously me coming out;

it took so much self-love and confidence

that I had to find out of nowhere

to be able to come out to my friends and family.

And then I think also being able to just go

on national television and being as open as I was

and just share my story;

I think all of these pivotal moments in my life

helped me be exactly who I am today,

and I am ready to grow even more every single day.

Okay, so you describe yourself as pansexual,

what does that mean to you

and how do you feel about labeling attraction?

Yes, I do identify as pansexual.

To me it just means that I do not care about gender at all,

all I care about is a really gorge personality

and that's it.

And labeling attraction is just not,

I don't think it's an important thing.

I think as we progress as a community

and as a society overall,

we're just gonna stop with the labels,

because what's the point of that? Love is love, period.

So there's no point in having to keep shoving yourself

in a box because as people, as human beings,

we're constantly evolving and growing,

so why are we gonna relabel ourselves

every time we discover a new part of ourselves?

It just doesn't make sense,

so not a huge fan of labels,

even though I'm labeling myself every second,

[laughing] apparently.

What does pride mean to you?

Oh my gosh, pride is the most important thing

in the world to me.

Me and Asia O'Hara we're actually talking about,

on the bus the other day on tour,

we were talking about how I feel like a lot of

the queer community loves pride so much

'cause it's kind of just a time where it's like,

our whole lives growing up as kids

we might not have had a space to come and celebrate

who we are, we might've had to hide that as kids

or young adults.

And then when you're an adult, you get to go to pride

and you get to celebrate pride and you just get to be

the person that you've always wanted to like,

scream from the rooftops that you are.

And so I think for a lot of us, it's just...

it's exactly that, it's a true celebration of all the pain

and of all the hard work that we've put into ourselves

and our lives and our journeys and it's a time to celebrate

and exactly what I said, Preach, gorge.

scream from the rooftops that we are here

and we're not going anywhere and it's time to celebrate.

So, pride's everything to me.

How do you look after your mental wellbeing?

I actually kind of forget to look after

my mental wellbeing sometimes,

which I need to get a little bit better at,

but for me, I truly just need one day

where I don't leave bed.

Like maybe once a month,

I just need to lay down for 14 hours.

[Kade speaking indistinctly] Full lay-down,

that's how I need to recover.

It's like a full, charging an iPhone, but it's me.

Okay, so how do you feel about social media?

Both the positive and the negative sides of it?

I personally love social media,

because I feel like I thrive with my personality

and I love to talk to people and connect with people;

so I love being able to just go online and meet new people.

I also think it's so important to share

what's going on in the world and all these different forms

of media you can literally go on and see what's happening

all around the world, which we did not have access to

like that before.

So I think social media is just a really important tool,

as well as an amazing, fun tool,

to be able to share your art and grow as an artist

and find your tribe in the world.

So, I'm obsessed with social media personally. [laughing]

What is the best piece of advice

that you've ever been given and by whom?

My favorite piece of advice I've ever been given

was actually on Drag Race and it was when RuPaul said,

You already got the job, you just have to show up.

And I literally took that to heart,

because I feel like when I get a bigger job

and start leveling up, I always get so nervous and scared

and I'm like, Oh my gosh, what if I mess up?

And I start spiraling with my inner saboteur.

But the second she said that,

it just all clicked to me that I got the job

for the hard work that I've done in the past.

And everyone there wants me to succeed,

so I just have to show up and kill it.

So, you already got the job,

[clapping] you just have to kill it.

Totally.

What is the biggest challenge that you've faced

on the journey to who you are today?

I feel like my biggest challenge on my journey of life

has kinda just been...

I feel like something with my transition, I guess.

I think just being able to find a place

where I can go out every day comfortable with who I am

physically, emotionally, spiritually,

was a crazy journey for me as a transgender individual.

So I think just figuring all that out

and aligning all my shock resin spiritual moments together

to be a happy, a genuinely happy individual,

took a lot of work and I'm proud of the work that I did,

but it definitely took a momento to get there;

and I'm very proud of who I am today because of it.

On the show, you realized that being your most authentic

self is the most important thing,

how did you come to that realization?

I think I came to the realization that authenticity

is just the most important thing in the world

through trial and error almost.

I think just going out every day and trying to discover

who I am and where in life I'm comfortable and happy

makes you kind of go out on a limb a lot and do,

try new things all the time and push yourself

out of your comfort zone.

And I realized through all these crazy experiences

that I've had that where I succeed is when I'm not worried

about what anyone else around me is doing,

I'm not worried about what's going on around me at all

actually, all I'm worried about is what energies

I'm putting out into the world;

and that is when people connect back with me

and when people respond to what I'm putting out

is when I am a hundred percent me,

a hundred percent authentic

and not caring what is happening around me really.

Okay, how has your drag look changed

since being on the show?

My drag look, I think my drag look has changed a lot

since being on the show.

First of all, I've refined a lot of things

after seeing myself on TV every week, physically,

and then I also think that I have gotten more comfortable

with my physical appearance in drag.

Before the show, I was definitely a little nervous

to get a little too feminine and then seeing myself

on the show try to be more feminine than I would normally

be comfortable with, I was like,

Oh my God, I look gorgeous, this is so fun.

And so now I am definitely down to experiment

and play a little bit more with femininity

and my overall vibe and I'm super obsessed with that.

So get ready for some more girly momentos

[snapping] from Gottmik. No gorge.

[snapping] Yes!

Who is your LGBTQ+ icon of all time?

Oh my gosh, I think...

I mean, I love a Cher moment, she's not like...

she's not, she's just a gay icon.

So Cher's my main bitch, I love a Dolly Parton,

I love a RuPaul. Yes.

Love her. I think RuPaul really,

when I was in high school was the closest thing

that I saw that was kind of like,

I remember seeing her on TV and being like,

that's the closest thing to what I am that I see;

this gender-bending crazy thing on TV,

like pushing gender stereotypes on national television

just blew my mind.

So I definitely wouldn't not be who I am today

without RuPaul, so I feel like RuPaul's a major one

for me as well.

How are you going to be celebrating pride month?

Well, I'm actually on tour for all a pride month.

I'm on a tour called Drive-in Drag,

which is pretty much the only tour going on

during the pandemic, and you literally drive up

to the stage. So fun, love.

And it's some of me and my best friends in the world,

we're all on tour, we're having the most magical,

amazing time ever.

Truly, when I have to leave the tour for one second,

I get sad because it is just the best vibes.

It's so much fun, the whole audience has so much fun,

I run around and sign shirts.

So if you see me on that tour in pride month,

you better go because we will kiki all night;

it's literally the most fun I've ever had in my life.

What changes would you like to see

in the way that the LGBTQ+ community

is represented in society?

I just want to see so many more stories being told.

I think, from what I've seen on Drag Race,

my story opened up a lot of people's minds

and at the end of the day I am...

I'm still a boy doing drag.

It's not like the craziest, craziest thing in the world,

just people had never heard of it or seen it before,

so I'm really excited to be able to come up in here

and open up these doors and say,

Hey guys, what we thought was the end-all be-all is not,

there's so many more stories.

And I'm so excited to see Drag Race, see the Hollywood,

see mainstream media keep pushing those boundaries

along with me and hear so many more amazing stories

from trans women who started the drag movement to,

you know, just literally you name it;

there's every color of the rainbow

in our gorge rainbow community,

so I just wanna get as many stories told as possible.

What advice would you give to a younger you?

[groaning] Advice to my younger you, I would say,

to me, right? I think I would probably just say

that you're valid.

I think I spent so long just thinking that I was crazy

and that I just needed to relax and there wasn't-

my trans-ness wasn't trans enough or valid enough.

And so I would just go back and say,

What you're feeling is a hundred percent valid,

just because you don't see it out there in the world

does not mean it's not a hundred percent real.

And you should just say [beep] it

and fight for what you think is correct, 'cause it is.

And I think that's a lot of my friends too,

they had the exact same story where they just didn't see

who they were on TV or in the media anywhere

and they couldn't find anyone like themselves,

so they just kind of put themselves

on the back burner 'cause of it.

And I feel like that's what we need to keep pushing is that

what you're feeling is a hundred percent correct;

just 'cause you don't see it, does not mean it is not real.

All right, what advice do you have

for young LGBTQ+ kids today

that may be struggling with finding themselves?

For the young LGBTQ+ kids out there today,

I would just tell them to stay strong, stay positive;

no matter how hard it gets,

there is a light at the end of the tunnel.

You are going to find your chosen family out there,

you're gonna find your tribe and it's gonna be so amazing.

It's just going to take a second, so keep pushing,

you are, like I said, a hundred percent valid.

There's so many people out there that love you

and support you and make sure you reach out to people online

that you see that you might feel connected with,

because they'll talk with you I'm sure,

and you're gonna get through anything.

You're a strong bitch and I believe in you.

All right, gorge, thank you so much for being here.

It was so good seeing you,

and this has been Glamour Unfiltered, Pride Edition.

Thanks for watching.

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