Vanessa Van Cartier snatched the crown in Drag Race Holland Season 2 and comes to YASS Magazine!
The only Flemish Italian queen this year in Drag Race Holland was Vanessa van Cartier. Internationally, she has made her mark in the drag scene by taking the win as the first post-op transgender in the Miss Continental pageant in Chicago. But Vanessa is mostly legendary for her gorgeous lip syncs and her polished style of drag. She is the drag mom of Season 1 winner, Envy Peru, and she proudly represents the trans community she still fights for on a daily basis. She always tries to tell a story and share a message. This queen will conquer your heart!
Vanessa Van Cartier you are the big winner of Drag Race Holland! How do you feel about it?
Very excited! It feels incredible. These two weeks I have been on the clouds and now slowly I start to land. When I watched my daughter Envy Peru two days ago, she said to me “Do you realise you won”? And, I replied “Do you realise that mother and daughter are winners of Drag Race”? It’s kind of historical!And, it feels special because I wanted to have that platform to tell my story, but also to prove to myself that I had self-confidence. I had lost that self-confidence, or I was not self confident enough, and Drag Race gave me that self-confidence back.
Vanessa how has been the reaction of the fans of the show of the show been?
I still try to respond to all the to the messages that people sent to me, but I cannot respond to all of them. When I see these people feeling so happy for me, then I’m pretty sure that the message that I wanted to show during the show was sent. I enjoy talking with with the fans. I really think it’s an amazing experience.
I have to say that you are a great performer and very talented! Recently we were speaking with My Little Puny, and she said that one of the things that we don’t know is that you are a great lip syncer too.
That’s who I am, I’m not able to kick and split, but there is one thing that I know that I do well, for sure. And, this is my lip sync! Lip sync is much more than just moving your mouth. If you understand what you’re singing, if you understand the happiness or the pain of the artist, and if you can reflect a song into your life, then you can do it well. There is a medley from Gladys Knight for which I had been studying the breathing for 6 whole months. That song brought me to many countries in the world, and people who didn’t know the artist told me I am a fabulous singer after my lip sync performance. This is one of the moments I realise that my lip sync is special.
This year has been the year where trans people have shined bright in Drag Race. How do you feel that you are the first trans winner of a Drag Race Holland?
The fact that a transgender person is winning Drag Race, it is opening doors for other girls like me and other people that are still in the closet. My victory shows that everything is possible. I don’t feel more and I don’t feel less than order queens. My body’s changed but my art has never changed. My art is the same. And I just feel very happy that I can inspire people to follow their dreams.
Is it easier or more difficult for a trans person to compete in Drag Race?
I always thought it was more difficult, but I need to I need to give extra points, positive points to the producers of the show because they let us feel equal. We are able to tell our story and they handled me the same way as the other contestants. My life has been very difficult since the moment my transition started, because in Belgium there was a big taboo about drag and about transgender performers. I suffered a lot because people took away my biggest dream, which was to keep performing. It’s a continuous battle, but I believe that now, once I was able to show my qualities and my art through Drag Race, the only thing I need to prove is to show that it’s never enough. You always learn, you always need to give more to your audience and to the people. I’m a little bit better every day. The biggest competitor in life is myself and drag is beautiful because you can always do something new.
Your story was very heartwarming and emotional. So, I feel that after all those struggles, you made it and now finally you are reaching your dreams. Is this how you feel? Do you feel proud of yourself?
Yeah, I feel very proud. I feel very happy and I feel very confident with myself. The biggest victory in Drag Race is not only having the crown and the sceptre and be announced as the best drag queen of Netherlands, but it’s the peace that I found with my father. When we did the live coordination, and they crowned me, my father was there. And when he saw that moment where I was telling about our problems and I started to cry, my father started to cry too and around 1000 people who were in the room, gave a standing ovation. This is an even bigger victory. I want to have a wonderful family that supports me 100% and believes in me, so I really think that I’m a very happy person.
More of Vanessa Van Cartier here:
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