He/she...shim. lol

I am the first to admit that I am obsessed with drag queens and trannies. I am. Now I don’t want you to go off on some tangent that I am “into” them…that’s a whole other ball of wax, kiddies. I don’t want to fuck drag queens and I am certainly not interested in piping a trannie. But…I am totally down to go for lunch and cocktails. Preferably pink cocktails. Preferably before noon. So we can talk about boys and makeup and how to contour.

You see, to me, a good drag queen is the best of both worlds. Big and manly for heavy lifting and general ass kickery and ferocious and fierce for makeup application and tips on how to make your dresses fit better. I am obsessed with them. I think first and foremost because a wonderful drag queen named Diamond took me under her wing and taught me the basics of fierce eye makeup. (She called it DAZZLE on the LIDS. “Always make those lids dazzle, sugar!” she would tell me.) The second reason is because at an impressionable age I was allowed to watch the original movie version of  Hairspray and I was taken aback by the portrayal of both Edna Turnblad AND Arvin Hodgepile by the one and only DIVINE…#18 on our countdown.

#18: DIVINE

#18: DIVINE...diva. delicious. simply divine.

To say that DIVINE was beautiful would be stretching it. But to say that DIVINE was a diva and marvelous would be an understatement. Known for her larger than life drag ensembles and for her larger than life frame, DIVINE was actually a creation sprung from the masterful, often bizarre mind of filmmaker John Waters.

Milstead, the man before DIVINE was born.

Born Harris Glenn Milstead, Divine was your typical fat kid who was bullied by kids at school until one day he was befriended by a neighborhood boy. That boy would grow up to be the infamous Waters. Harris Glenn Milstead would go on to open a salon and be a cosmetologist until being cast and subsequently reborn as DIVINE under the direction of Waters in his first film, . And once DIVINE was born, Milstead was dead, and DIVINE would go on to become one of the first great queens of her time having both a flourishing movie career and a pretty decent recording career, too.

John Waters and DIVINE (out of drag) were a duo that made waves.

Known to be raunchy and controversial, DIVINE caused quite a stir wherever she went, often spouting off about sex and drugs and homosexuality in mixed company. But many claim that the real DIVINE was actually a quiet and shy type that battled with depression and addiction for years. In fact, DIVINE was rumored to be quite the pothead, often passing out sitting up in public places due to being stoned out of her mind.

DIVINE in the cult classic movie, PINK FLAMINGOS.

But although DIVINE was a hot trannie mess, and I mean that in the nicest of ways, of course, she was actually quite the performer. Her sense of comedic timing was brilliant and her love of all campy movies made her a star. Not a lot of people understood her brand of acting or some of the roles that she took, but they couldn’t look away. Often shocking, DIVINE was a forced to be reckoned with. In an industry where drag queens were not the norm, she landed roles. In fact, she had just landed a role on the then brand-new series Married With Children when she died in her sleep of an enlarged heart. She was only 42.

Disney let DIVINE live forever as the inspiration for Ursula, the sea witch in The little Mermaid.

A life cut short but you bet your biscuits that a character like DIVINE’s presence will be felt forever. She was not only the queen of drag but she was also the queen of camp and that made her special. Big and fabulous, she did what she wanted and made no apologies for being different and larger than life, literally. And I have to thank her for teaching me the way of the queen long before my mother would ever let me wear makeup. But I am not the only one who recognized DIVINE’s divatude. Oh, no. In fact, Disney even modeled Ursula from The Little Mermaid after DIVINE. Good choice, eh?

Enjoy this big diva. Her abundance, both of spirit and in weight was something to behold. She was fabulocity and definitely deserves a spot on our list as a ferocious Fatcon.

Congratulations big girl. Work it.

-goobs