You know, when you give a handshake

you have to look in the eye, you gotta give it,

oh, what are you doing?

[laughing]

[dramatic music]

[beeps]

- [Crew] RuPaul Answers Increasingly Personal Questions

as the Camera Moves Closer to His Face.

[clapboard snaps]

- And I'm gonna turn my phone off

although no one calls me.

Well, no one has my number.

[beeps] - [Crew] Identity.

[clapper snaps]

- [Narrator] What are you afraid of?

- Ignorant people, it's the only thing I'm afraid of.

Ignorant people.

Especially ignorant people who think they're smart,

that's the scariest thing on earth.

- [Narrator] Where do you go to find peace?

- I usually go to Aretha Franklin Canyon,

it's right here in Beverly Hills

and most people in LA don't even know it exists.

I don't think Aretha Franklins knows, knew it exists.

In fact, it's actually not called Aretha Franklin,

but I call it Aretha Franklin Canyon,

it's called Franklin Canyon,

but because I called it Aretha Franklin Canyon

you'll never forget.

- [Narrator] What's the biggest difference between

your drag style when you first started out

compared to now.

- Well the biggest difference between

my drag style back then from what it is today

is about

$150,000.

- [Narrator] How did you develop your present drag persona?

- My present drag persona was developed

out of my study of pop culture

and how to create a caricature

that someone could draw on a page and be recognizable.

I took two parts Cher, three parts Diana Ross,

a dash of Dolly Parton

and a little bit of David Bowie and James Brown,

put them all together.

Oh, and a smathering of Bugs Bunny,

and that's how my persona,

my public persona, came to be.

- [Narrator] What advice would you give

to someone who feels alone?

- Advice I'd give to someone who feels alone is that,

first of all feelings are not facts.

You know, what you feel is an indicator,

but a lot of times it's not really the truth.

Because the truth is we are not separate from one another.

We are actually one thing, we are one thing.

We are one thing.

But from, your perception is, makes you think,

and your ego makes you think,

that we're two different things,

that you're over there and I'm over here,

but the truth is

we are actually one thing together.

- [Narrator] When do you feel most like an outsider?

- I feel most like an outsider every day of my life.

I've come to peace with feeling like an outsider.

I know it's a condition of my brain.

It's not necessarily the truth

because actually everybody feels like an outsider,

everybody feels that way.

[beeping]

And you want me to take my clothes off for this one?

[beeps] - [Crew] Family.

- [Narrator] How's your husband?

- I haven't had any complaints.

- [Narrator] How did you two meet?

- I met George on the dance floor

at Limelight discotheque in 1994.

They actually stunted his growth when he was 12 years old.

He was 6'8'' at 12 years old.

When I saw him out on the dance floor

at Limelight disco in New York City

he was wearing platform shoes about that tall

and dancing like a maniac.

So I had to go over to him and say, who are you?

What are you?

What are you doing?

And I said, can I hug you?

Can I put my arms around you?

'Cause I'd never, I'm tall, I've never been able to

put my arms around someone's shoulders

who was taller than me.

So, yeah, that was 1994.

- [Narrator] Why did you two decide on an open marriage?

- We didn't decide, that's what, [laughs].

You know, the hope is that

monogamy is actually something that

can actually happen.

You know, I wouldn't want to put

restraints on the person I love the most on this planet.

I wouldn't do that to someone I love,

my very best friend.

Listen, if you get something happening

that you cannot resist

and that's gonna make you happy, go for it.

Go for it.

Because the truth is

I know in my heart of hearts,

like, I've never known anything before,

that man loves me more than anything else in this world.

- [Narrator] You once when on

a noteworthy picnic with your sister, is that right?

- My sister Renetta, who is my soul sister,

she's a twin, both of them are soul sisters.

But Renetta put some cookies in a brown paper bag

and took a blanket out to the backyard

and she laid it out.

We ate the cookies and she said,

this, Ru, is a picnic.

And that was my introduction to magic

and how to create magic in your life, little magic.

- [Narrator] When in your life did you feel most abandoned?

- When in my life did I feel most abandoned?

Well, you know, funny enough

this morning George and I went on a walk

here in Beverly Hills at about 4:30 in the morning

and when I was 28,

turning 28 years old, when Saturn returns in your life.

I was out here with my younger sister,

sleeping on her couch with not a nickel to my name.

And I would walk around in the middle of the night

in Los Angeles

with no car

and it was

the most hideous existence that you could ever imagine.

That went on for a couple of months

before I came to my senses and moved back to New York.

- [Narrator] What is the most significant way

you mother has influenced you as an artist?

- My mother told me something very important.

She influenced the way I conduct my life to this day

which is

unless they are paying your bills

pay them bitches no mind.

So she gave me the chutzpah, the moxie

to do my life my way.

[beeps] - [Narrator] Action, dolly.

- Is Dolly here?

I'm sorry, you know,

ya gotta entertain yourself

otherwise what's the fucking point?

I've turned into my father with the one-liners,

but I get it now.

I really get it now.

[beeps] - [Crew] Culture.

[clapboard snaps]

- [Narrator] What are you obsessed with right now?

- I'm obsessed with striped French sailor shirts.

I, you know, honestly,

I must have

50 of them, 75, 80.

Yeah.

And I just bought a few when we were in France again.

I mean, you can buy 'em anywhere,

but I love 'em.

They're perfect.

No, I actually, I wanna change my mind.

This moment I'm obsessed with the Bee Gees.

I love the Bee Gees, the Brothers Gibb.

I was just listening to them on my hike yesterday morning

and in the bathtub this morning

and I could actually start crying

thinking about how beautiful their songs are.

And how just otherworldly the harmonies.

I just, I love them so much.

- [Narrator] Aside from you,

who's the most fabulous person on the planet?

- Wow, you know, the first person that comes to mind

is Dolly Parton.

- [Narrator] What's one thing people would be surprised

to know about you?

- Uh, I think they'd be surprised to know that

I'm actually more of an introvert than I let on.

I'm actually not really a people person.

I can do it, I've studied humans,

I know how to engage with humans,

it's not my favorite thing to do.

I like being alone a lot.

- [Narrator] What never fails to make you emotional?

- Toy Story 3 really gets me.

I saw Toy Story 4 on the plane coming back from Europe

the other day

and I loved it and I cried throughout it,

but it reminded me that Toy Story 3 had me bawling

from beginning to end.

Similar to the Wizard of Oz

which is also the story human life on this planet.

- [Narrator] Did you ever spend time

in a restaurant named Florent?

- I went to Florent restaurant in New York

starting in 1985.

It opened in '85 and I started going there then

and I went there till the end.

In fact, the other day, this is a true story,

I lit a candle with some matches from Florent

and it's been closed for, I don't know,

it's been 10 years maybe.

How long has Florent been closed?

- [Narrator] Since 2008.

- Oh, wow, yeah.

- [Narrator] What about Stingy Lulu's?

- Stingy Lulu's was a restaurant I'd go to

in the East Village all the time

and just about a year and a half ago, maybe two years ago,

Zach Gana-[babbling].

How do you say his name?

- [Narrator] Galifianakis.

- Say it again.

- [Narrator] Galifianakis.

- Galifianakis. [beeps]

Zach Galifianakis was my waiter at Stingy Lulu's.

- [Narrator] What do you miss most

about the '80s drag scene in New York?

- The thing I miss most

about the '80s drag scene in New York

is I had the freedom

to terrorize y'alls neighborhoods

before I became the poster child for drag around the world.

I used to be very

un-, un-PC around New York

and we had a lot of fun.

And used to party a lot.

And [laughing] I was able to, um,

you know, be what drag queens did in the '80s

which was terrorize and have fun and be wild.

And people weren't taking selfies or saying,

ooh, Miss RuPaul.

In fact, after 2 AM I became my alter ego,

which is Bianca Dinkins.

She was the illegitimate daughter of Mayor David Dinkins

and then by 4 AM I became known as Cupcake.

[beeps]

[laughing]

And y'all don't wanna, you don't want Cupcake up in here.

[laughing]

Or Bianca Dinkins.

'Cause she, watch your pocketbooks 'round Bianca Dinkins.

[beeps] - [Crew] Work.

[clapboard snaps]

- [Narrator] How's work?

- I love work.

I work a lot, I like to work.

It keeps the voices at bay.

- [Narrator] What time did you get up today?

- I got up today at three o'clock.

Usually I get up at four o'clock,

but I'm a little thrown off from having

traveled in Europe for the past three weeks.

- [Narrator] Who would you cast to play you in a biopic?

- I would cast Raven-Symone to play me.

She's fabulous, she could do anything.

- [Narrator] If you were not a performer

what would you do for a living and why?