Liverpool’s The Vivienne has quite the resume under her belt.
The drag queen was the first-ever winner of RuPaul’s Drag Race UK and has appeared on the likes of Celebrity Hunted, This is Going to Hurt, Ant and Dec’s Saturday Night Takeaway, Celebrity Juice, and The Weakest Link.
From her humble beginnings on Stanley Street to now one of the biggest drag artists in the UK, the performer has had quite the journey. And while the world recognises her as a drag superstar, day-one fans and Scousers may be more familiar with her as a "gay town" host and DJ.
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Here's how The Vivienne went from a Pride Quarter DJ to an international icon:
Before her stint on the UK spin-off series, the Cher impersonator was crowned as the official RuPaul’s Drag Race Ambassador for the UK in 2016. This was part of the process to bring the series to Britain and saw RuPaul crown her after a private competition was held. Prizes for winning the title included a special appearance on series eight of the show where she can be seen in the audience.
The following year, the all-round performer was honoured for her years of entertaining Liverpool’s LGBTQ+ community in the Pride Quarter clubs with her very own comedy roast. A host of her friends, comedians and other drag artists took to the stage at Superstar Boudoir to slander her in good faith as part of her farewell before she took time off to move to Gran Canaria.
Landing in Gran Canaria, she took up residency in the Sparkles, a show bar where she performed multiple nights a week. During her time in the Canary Islands, she met her now-husband, David Ludford. The two married in 2019 in London at the world-renowned nightclub, G-A-Y's Heaven.
In 2019, RuPaul's Drag Race UK officially announced The Vivienne would be competing in the UK franchise. After beating off the competition, she was crowned the UK's first drag superstar and as part of the prize, she won a crown and sceptre and began her "reign" with guest appearances at venues across the UK.
Whilst not winning a cash prize from the show, The Vivienne certainly went on to make her name known in the industry appearing across the likes of ITV, BBC, and Netflix and releasing her own make-up and music. For Emmerdale's first-ever Pride celebrations, the queen was cast as herself to visit the Dales and make that "little bit of history for all the gays and the LGBTQ+ community".
Going back to where it all started, this year saw The Vivienne partake in an all-winners season of RuPaul’s Drag Race. This time around she was pitted against American queens and despite not reaching the final, it was a boost to her already phenomenal career. However, being exposed to fans all over the world did come with a price, as after being trolled, labelled "fat" and told to "go eat a salad" by so-called fans, the queen deactivated her Twitter account.
But it wasn't long before The Vivienne was back on track as a few months later, in October,she announced she would be swapping her high heels for ice skates as she had signed up for Dancing On Ice. She said it was a “dream come true and “a big step for queer representation on TV”. The season premieres in the new year on ITV but The Vivienne has already been treating her fans to snapshots of her on the ice on her social media.
Despite being a household name for many now up and down the country, The Vivienne will always be a Liverpool queen to us.
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