RuPaul might never have never tried drag if not for advice he got while he was in high school.
In an appearance during TED's "On the Spot" Q&A earlier this year, the celebrity drag queen and television host credited his 10th grade teacher with giving him "the best advice" he had ever received in his life.
"He said 'RuPaul, do not take life too seriously,''" the star, whose full name is RuPaul Andre Charles, told the crowd. "Emphasis on 'too.' He actually used some dirty language in there, you can fill in the blanks where he put it."
RuPaul went on to explain that he flunked his first attempt to get through the 10th grade before succeeding on his second try. Still, he ended up dropping out of high school his junior year. Despite this, his teacher's advice stuck with him.
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"Of all the time I spent in school, that was the most valuable lesson I ever learned," RuPaul said. "As the years went on, it became more and more valuable."
He gave the example of stage actors committing to their roles and believing that they are the characters they are playing, saying that this level of seriousness isn't always necessary.
"Drag and laughter and all those things shake it up to say 'Hey, kiddo, you know you're only playing a role. This show will close, and we're going to go on to another show and another show and another show," he said. "And it's going to be fabulous."
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In a 2016 interview with CNBC, the entertainer said he "stumbled into" drag in 1982 when he was in a rock band. Dressing up became an outlet for his creativity and helped him embrace the advice he got in the 10th grade.
"For my tribe, the people I found years ago, we've found sanctuary in the irreverent, in the off-center, in the quirky," he said at the time. "And that's how we stay entertained and that's how we stay engaged in what would otherwise seem to be a really cruel world."
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