The Big Picture

Yvie’s new book offers insight into her life and Drag Race experiences, providing fans a deeper perspective.
Yvie advocates for unionization in reality TV due to poor practices and believes in advocating for better treatment.
Yvie appreciates the new Drag Race winner Nymphia’s creativity and unique storytelling, and is excited about the diverse cast of All Stars 9.

When Yvie Oddly made her drag race debut in RuPaul’s Drag Race Season 11, she took audiences by surprise with her crazy physical abilities and quirky artistry. She was also very candid about the reasons behind her physicality. She has type 3 Ehlers-Danlos Syndrome, or EDS, which is a disorder that affects her joints and other connective tissues. Despite all of this, Yvie was able to stay true to who she was as an artist while still giving RuPaul and the judges everything they wanted. This is what ultimately took her down the path of success, winning the crown at the end of the season. Yvie returned to Drag Race during Season 7 of All Stars, which featured several winning queens from previous seasons. This particular season of All Stars was one of the best, as none of the queens were eliminated in the process. This made the season even better for diehard fans, who got to see all the queens the entire season and boasted the best Snatch Game in years. Yvie did well in the competition but was ultimately beaten out by Jinkx Monsoon.

Yvie has kept busy since Drag Race. She joined the conversation about the poor conditions reality stars are forced to accept while participating in them and has also continued to perform. Now, she has a new book set to come out during Pride Month called All About Yvie: Into the Oddity. Yvie spoke with Collider about the new book, as well as her thoughts on the newest Drag Race winner, Nymphia Wind, and the recently announced All Stars 9 cast.

RuPaul’s Drag Race RuPaul searches for America’s next drag superstar.Release Date February 2, 2009 Cast RuPaul , Michelle Visage , Jason Carter , Carson Kressley Seasons 16

‘All About Yvie: Into the Oddity’

Yvie’s new book, All About Yvie: Into the Oddity focuses on her life and journey as an artist. She shared, “It’s literally just my life story. [It’s] Everything pre-Drag Race, including my childhood [and] a lot of the very sketchy and complicated situations that formed me into the person I was,” adding, “It goes into detail about both of my times on Drag Race and even has some interviews with my fellow competitors. So, it’s all about Yvie from every perspective.” Providing her fans with that additional perspective on who she is will allow them to appreciate who she is on a deeper level. “I went through with this book to give everybody else an opportunity to get to know me a little bit better and deeper than you can through Drag Race,” she said, adding, “I ended up learning so much about myself I did not know because it was other people’s perspectives.

They sat down and talked with Michael [Bach], the writer, and the truth comes out on TV and in media and even in books.” She also went into a little more about EDS. When asked about how the disorder affects her artistry, she said, “It’s not even necessarily something I take that much into account, as much as I think about what my goals and what my dreams are, and how I can tackle and achieve them. My condition, being a disabled performer, all of that kind of comes as a footnote at the end for me.” She added, “ I don’t ever want to limit myself based on the very short list of things that I can’t do in comparison to the very long list of things that I am doing.” As time moves on, Yvie has to continue to adapt to the changes her body is undergoing. “ I’ve been pouring a lot of my energy into finding out what else I can do. I can’t do all my backflips and tricks anymore, [but] I discovered I can host my own one-woman show and just talk s**t at people for hours. I discovered I could write a book. Things I couldn’t necessarily channel my energy into if I was like, ‘Alright, I gotta do 20 backflips tonight. Gotta make sure these people are so happy. This is the only chance they’re ever gonna get to see me.’”

Yvie Thinks It’s Time For Unionization In Reality TV and Drag

Speaking the truth is something Yvie has no qualms about. Last year, she spoke candidly about the alleged unsavory practices of the Drag Race producers. She shared her thoughts in a Twitter, now known as X, thread, saying, “The producers are often the greediest, most-calculating, capitalist culture thieves,” following up with, “They f**k with real people’s lives, career opportunities, and health. They drive themselves home in their luxury cars when their contestants are sleep-deprived, depressed, and DRASTICALLY underpaid for their contributions to the cultural phenomenon.” What Yvie said isn’t particularly new news when it comes to reality TV. Thanks to the SAG-AFTRA and WGA strikes in 2023, reality TV producer practices have been under scrutiny thanks to calls from stars like Bethenny Frankel, who was campaigning for a reality TV union to be formed.

When asked about her thoughts on this, Yvie said, “I personally would like to see a future where something like that could happen, especially because of how important reality TV is in informing the culture and creating the memes, the moments, the people, the trends, you know? I’ve seen a lot more art even talking about how difficult it is to be an artist or a passionate person in any field unless you get on a reality TV show about it.” She’s right; financial success in any artistic field isn’t viable without having a foot in the door, something reality TV often provides. “For me, it kind of would make sense if there were any sort of unionization. Even for me, specifically within the drag community, to be like, ‘Okay, well, now that our art form does have some attention on it, here are the things that we can be doing to make sure that we’re not treaded over as a culture. That we’re not lining other people’s pockets [while] starving in between checks.’”

Yvie Loves New Drag Race Winner Nymphia Wind’s Artistry
Image via MTV

The newest winner of RuPaul’s Drag Race is Nymphia Wind, who had a strong performance throughout the season but had an emotional breakthrough that freed her from her own insecurities, which helped her clinch the crown. When asked about her thoughts on the newest winner, Yvie said, “I’m happy Nymphia won. It feels like the appropriate choice. And for me, it was hard because I thought Sapphira was fantastic and put up an amazing fight, specifically at the finale. But, when I think of Drag Race and what the winner is supposed to represent, you know, it’s, for them, about pushing the boundaries of what has been represented and what can be done in the future.”

She also added, “We just got Sasha Colby. She was as mother as you get, so it’s hard to follow up that mother act with another mother. I think somebody who’s discovering themselves like Nymphia was, [it] was very fun for a lot of viewers to watch, to be like, ‘Don’t worry girl, I know who you are. I also doubt myself, but if you doubt yourself and you’re that perfect.’ You know, she’s got a story for people to get behind.” Nymphia’s creativity and artistry is something Yvie can certainly connect with. “I think it speaks to her artistry in the best of ways because… other people have come out in face paint. Other people have done these very beautiful representations of drag and what it means to them; the cultures that they love. Nobody did it like Nymphia,” she said, adding, “I know her whole thing was like bananas and yellow all season or whatever, but when you say Nymphia, the first thing that pops in my mind every time is [the] crazy Butoh face, half moon. [She’s an] insane artist.”

Yvie Says ‘RuPaul’s Drag Race All Stars 9’ Is Full Of True All Stars

The new RuPaul’s Drag Race All Stars Season 9 cast was also recently announced, and this season features ​​Angeria Paris VanMicheals, Gottmik, Jorgeous, Nina West, Plastique Tiara, Roxxxy Andrews, Shannel, and Vanessa Vanjie Mateo. When asked about her thoughts on the cast, Yvie said, “I’m interested. My interest has been peaked. [They] got me at the fact that they have a good quarter of the cast I competed against once on, like, all these season 11 girlies.” She added, “You can tell that they put some real stakes into this season, because, not to be too shady about every other All Stars that’s ever existed, but this feels like All Stars.” She elaborated on this further, explaining, “I mean, it feels like all stars looking at these girls. I’m like, ‘Oh, we’re going to get runways. We’re going to get some comedy chops in there. We’re going to get some c**tiness from the core.” Roxxxy Andrews is back at All Stars, which is exciting for fans of the All Stars 2 finale song, “Read U, Wrote U.” Yvie said, “You know [Roxxxy] is going to feed the children,” adding, “I hope that they have another songwriting challenge because it’s been too long since we were blessed by her lyricism.”

Here’s hoping Roxxxy Andrews does have an opportunity to make it clear, and knowing Drag Race, she’ll get that. This season is bringing back the non-elimination format and is also unique in that the queens are playing for charity. “I’m excited for this season. Especially because they’re like playing for charity, too. All these queens are really playing for a sexy tax write-off [laughs],” she shared, adding, “These are drag queens. Aside from Nina West, every single person there is the most narcissistic person on the planet.” Narcissism aside, this season is certain to be an excellent one, thanks to the star power in the cast.

Yvie Oddly’s book, All About Yvie: Into the Oddity is currently available for pre-sale. RuPaul’s Drag Race All Stars Season 9 premieres on Friday, May 17. Watch on Paramount+