RuPaul is wearing pajamas. He’s at home — in his office — in the same New York City apartment he’s lived in for the past 15 years. It’s the one he moved into after hitting the big time with an album on Tommy Boy Records and the single “Supermodel” that made him practically a household word.
Now he’s in the media spotlight again. This time for a new guidebook to beauty and happiness, “Workin’ it: RuPaul’s Guide to Life, Liberty and the Pursuit of Style” (HarperCollins), and a hit weekly television series on Logo called “RuPaul’s Drag Race.”
He’ll be in Atlanta on Tuesday for a signing at Outwrite Bookstore and a taping of “The Mo’Nique Show.”
“I can’t wait to get back to Atlanta again,” RuPaul said, chuckling. “For me, the city is like a childhood friend you have so many memories with. But it’s like that friend moved on and had a sex change. You know it’s them. But they’re still so different. That’s what Atlanta is like to me these days. So much growth. So much has changed.
“I remember being there a few years back and I stayed in a hotel in Midtown overlooking a construction site. I was looking out the window one evening and I realized I had seen the building going up the first time and now I was seeing it being torn down. Seeing it go up and being pulled down — I thought — wow, that’s a lot of change in one lifetime.”
There’s no doubt much has changed in Atlanta since RuPaul split for Manhattan back in the late ’80s. But then, RuPaul has changed a great deal, too.
Originally from San Diego, he spent many years during the 1980s in Atlanta, where he was a popular performer in the Midtown gay scene.
Back then, he was a mix of punk and drag, and it wasn’t uncommon to see him in high heels, a girdle, football shoulder pads and a mohawk.
It took the relocation to New York City and his immersion into the local culture’s drag and club scene before the glam diva side of RuPaul would emerge.
Over the next decade and a half he would see much success: In addition to the hit single, he would pen his autobiography, “Letting It All Hang Out,” host the series “The RuPaul Show” on VH1 and make appearances in a plethora of films.
“RuPaul’s Drag Race” is now in its second season. The biggest hit on the LGBT-themed and Viacom-owned network, the program has put Logo on the map.
Two of the contestants on the program are from Atlanta: Nicole Page Brooks and Sonique. The series airs at 9 p.m. Mondays.
In addition to the book and the TV program, RuPaul is just about to launch another reality series for Logo, “Drag U,” which he describes as “RuPaul’s drag university.”
“We’re going to take women from the middle of America who have basically given up on themselves and give them a makeover from the inside out.”
Book signing
"Workin' it: RuPaul's Guide to Life, Liberty and the Pursuit of Style" (HarperCollins)
7:30 p.m. Tuesday. Outwrite Bookstore and Coffeehouse, 991 Piedmont Ave. N.E., Atlanta. 404-607-0082, www.outwritebooks.com .
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