RuPaul has a net worth of $60 million and is an American actor, drag queen, model, author, and music artist. She is widely considered the most commercially successful drag queen in the United States.
Early life and career
RuPaul Andre Charles, or simply RuPaul, was born on November 17, 1960 in San Diego, California. He is the youngest of three siblings. He and his siblings were raised by his mother, Ernestine “Tony” Charles when his parents divorced in 1967.
RuPaul and his sister Renettea traveled to Atlanta, Georgia when he was 15 years old to study performing arts. He struggled as a film director and musician in the 1980s, working at the Galilee Plaza Theatre.
He sang as a backing vocalist for Glen Meadmore at The Celebrity Club, among others. In 1989, he had his first achievement as a dancer in the music video for B-52s “Love Shack”.
Related: English TV personality, model and author Nikki Graham Net Worth, Long Illness in the Early Decade and Other Lesser Known Facts
Professional life
RuPaul released the dance/house album “Supermodel of the World” in 1993 under the rap label Tommy Boy. The song “Supermodel (You Better Work)” and its accompanying music video was an instant hit on MTV.
The song reached #45 on the Billboard Hot 100 and #2 on the Billboard Hot Dance Music/Club Play chart. The singles/videos “Back to My Roots” and “A Shade Shady (Now Prance)” reached number one on the Billboard Hot Dance Music/Club Play chart.
RuPaul’s albums include “Foxy Lady” (1996), “Ho Ho Ho” (1997), “Red Hot” (2004), “Champion” (2009), “Glamazon” (2011), “Born Naked” (2014), “Realness” (2015), “Slay Belles” (2015), “Butch Queen” (2016), “Remember Me: Essential, Vol. 1” (2017), “American” (2017) and “Essential, Vol. 2” (2017) (2017).
RuPaul was the first drag queen to win a modeling deal after gaining fame for his music. Then, in 1996, he bought his own VH1 chat show, “The RuPaul Show,” which he hosted. Diana Ross, Nirvana, Doran Duran, Pat Benatar, Mary J. Blige, Cindy Lauper, Olivia Newton-John and the Backstreet Boys were among the distinguished guests and instrumentalists who performed.
The show’s co-host was Michelle Visage, and the two also hosted WKTU radio shows together. From 1996 to 1998, “The RuPaul Show” was broadcast on MTV. RuPaul and Visage have also co-hosted a podcast since 2014, “RuPaul: What the Tee w/ Michelle Visage.”
RuPaul returned to television in February 2009 with the reality competition show “RuPaul’s Drag Race,” which debuted on Logo.
The premise of the show is that the drag queens compete for the title of “America’s Next Drag Star,” decided by a jury, including RuPaul. Michelle Visage, a longtime employee of RuPaul, is a judge on the panel.
The show was Logo TV’s highest rated show and has been shown worldwide in the United Kingdom, Australia, Canada, the Netherlands and Israel. The show has been moved to VH1 for its ninth season and can still be seen on that network as of May 2020.
Popular side shows from the show include “RuPaul’s Drag Race All-Stars”, “RuPaul’s Drag Race the UK” and “RuPaul’s Secret Celebrity Drag Race”.
RuPaul has alongside ‘Drag Race.’ Along with Dr. Terry Dubrow and Sandra Vergara, he co-hosted the E! talk show ‘Good Work’ in 2015. Only six episodes of the show have aired.
RuPaul then hosted Logo Network’s “Gay for Play Game Show Starring RuPaul” from April 2016 to July 2017. On June 10, 2019, he debuted his talk show “RuPaul”, which was broadcast on Fox TV stations across the country. It was not picked up by the network after the three-week test period ended due to poor performance.
RuPaul has an extensive list of acting credits, including roles in films like “To Wong Foo, Thanks for Everything!” (1995), “Crocodile Dundee” (1994), “The Brady Bunch Movie (1995), “Crocodile Dundee” (1994). “Julie Newmar” (1995), “But I’m a Cheerleader” (1999) and ” Hurricane Bianca” (2001) are some of her most famous works” (2016).
He has also appeared in the Comedy Central series “Broad City” (2017) and the Netflix episodes “Girlboss” (2017), “Grace and Frankie” (2019) and “AJ and the Queen” (2019). (2020). He also hosted the comedy show “Saturday Night Live”.
Related: British Businesswoman Sarah Davis Net Worth, Job, Dragon’s Lair and Other Lesser Known Facts
Other projects
RuPaul’s first line of cosmetics and beauty products was launched in 2013 in partnership with Colorevolution, a cosmetics company. The unisex fragrance “Glamazon” was also launched to match the collection.
Private life
According to RuPaul, “It’s the name you can give me. You are free to talk to myself as it is” and she has shown a lack of interest in gender pronouns when referring to herself. He appears in public as a man and as a drag queen.
He is married to Georges LeBar since 1994 and is LGBT. They met at Limelight nightclub in New York City and married in January 2017. Lebar is a painter who owns a farm in Wyoming.
RuPaul Real Estate
RuPaul purchased a 10,300-square-foot luxury property in Beverly Hills in October 2019 for $13.7 million. In 2011, they paid $2.5 million for their last home.
They tried to sell the previous home in 2018 for $5 million, but they were unsuccessful. Owned a $350,000 apartment in New York City for nearly 25 years. He bought an apartment in West Hollywood, California, in 2007, for $600,000.
Evil tv scholar. Proud twitter aficionado. Travel ninja. Hipster-friendly zombie fanatic.