The Vivienne has told how she left the UK drag scene to recover from her drug addiction, before making a triumphant return.
The Vivienne has opened up about her drug addiction past
The ‘Dancing on Ice’ star - whose real name is James Lee Williams - moved from Liverpool to Gran Canaria to get sober after hitting the party scene too hard.
The 30-year-old drag queen told the Daily Mirror newspaper: “Some guys I knew from Gran Canaria ... asked me to do a gig in Pride.
“I did it, I was there for a week, and I felt like myself, and I hadn’t touched anything for a week.”
The Vivienne detailed how she “came out quite early” while studying at secondary school and often got told how “fabulous” she looked.
She said: “I came out quite early. Humour was my defence at school. I wasn’t bullied, because I was the funny kid.
“I’d turn up with a Louis Vuitton bag. Often my accessories would be confiscated. It wasn’t all bad. I was outside the headmaster’s office and another teacher told me I looked fabulous.”
Kevin Kirby, who manages the Liverpool bar Superstar Boudoir, admitted he knew of Vivienne's problem but it never impacted her professional duties.
He explained: “She had to leave the scene at the time when she did otherwise, she wouldn’t have been where she is now.
“She took a massive pay cut to go over there, was able to sort herself out and there’s been no stopping her since.”
While appearing on original ‘RuPaul’s Drag Race UK’ in 2019- the BBC Three competition she won - the Vivienne confessed she took the drug ketamine for “breakfast, lunch and dinner”.
She said: “I could have three bags of it just putting my face on. I did it on and off for four years. I was getting evicted from apartments, I had no money.”