After a lengthy season filled with twists and turns,Willow Pillhas been named the winner ofRuPaul’s Drag RaceSeason 14!
After her historic win as the first-ever trans woman to win a non-All Stars season of the show (Kylie Sonique Love won Season 6 of All-Stars), the queen spoke toEntertainment Weeklyabout the win and her future plans.
“It feels amazing to me because this season broke so many boundaries and had so many firsts,” Willow said.
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Willow has been an open book to fans throughout the season, from opening up about her gender discovery as a femme trans woman to her chronic battle with cystinosis, a rare genetic disorder that affects just about every system in the body, starting with the kidneys.
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“What’s important to me is that I’m representing people who are disabled and chronically ill,” Willow toldEW. “That’s not something we see on television — especially not on reality television, because people who are ill and disabled are amazing, fun, nasty, and catty, and they’re everything anyone else can be, times 25.”
With her honesty came an outpouring of support fromDrag Racefans. “It’s amazing to hear from people how much my drag means to them, but also, I think I need a big ego check,” Willow admitted. “I’d love to be humbled; I’d love to escape to the woods for a while and reconnect with myself.”
As for her career plans after the show, Willow said she didn’t quite know the answer just yet. “I would love to phase a little bit out of drag,” she said. “I’d love to get more into acting and into absurd sketches and music.”
She continued, “For this year right now, I want to travel all over the world and meet people that have made me have the career that I have now.”
TheDrag Racewinner recently spoke to PEOPLE about the effect her disease has on her life and her time on the show.
“It’s a frickin' ravenous and thorough disease,” Willow told PEOPLE. “My kidneys went into failure when I was 14, and within a year I was on dialysis and received a transplant from my brother. But then cystinosis starts to infiltrate other organs as you get older.”
In Willow’s case, the symptoms have been extensive. “My throat has been affected heavily with what’s called dysphasia, which means I have difficulty talking, swallowing, drinking and eating. My eyes get infiltrated with cystine, which causes blurred vision and pain. Cystinosis can cause muscle wasting, so my muscles have started to deteriorate over the last four or five years; they’re not as big and strong as they used to be, and I have extremities of the hands and the feet. It affects my brain. And then beyond all that, anemia is another side effect, so I experience just constant exhaustion.”
“I take a lot of medications — a little over 20 pills a day,” Willow said. “And while they’re supposed to make you feel better, taking that many pills every day growing up, they make you feel sick. It’s for the greater good, so that your body functions long term, but you feel ill through your daily life. It’s not fun, really.”
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“It was a pretty long experience. It wasn’t easy,” Willow said. “But when you aresomeone who’s been dealing with chronic illness or a disability, you find your way to make it through the world and through daily life. It becomes kind of secondhand.”
Sadly, “secondhand” also means those experiencing chronic pain don’t speak out about what they’re going through — something Willow hoped she would be able to bring attention to with her appearance onDrag Race.
“It’s unfortunate that people with disabilities and illness stay a little bit silent in their daily lives with what’s going on,” she explained. “It’s important to know that if you are disabled or chronically ill, it’s your right to talk about those things.”
“I wanted to go into the show being really honest about what was happening in my life because I hate that sometimes we make a sugar-coated experience or an inspirational story out of sick people’s lives when often, there’s just pain there that needs to be felt and heard first and foremost,” Willow continued.
“Our communities need to take care of those who are most vulnerable because it’s an impossible situation to be in. And one of the most gratifying parts of the experience ofDrag Racehas been hearing from people who tell me how important my time on the show has meant to them. That’s kind of priceless.”
source: people.com
