9 'Drag Race' queens you never knew had famous family members
| 10/04/24
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Courtesy of Paramount+; Kathy Hutchins/Shutterstock; Courtesy of World of Wonder; Andrew Cline/Shutterstock
Competing on Drag Race usually catapults queens to stardom, but it turns out some queens have family members who are even more famous! From politicians to singers to baseball royalty, these reality TV queens have family members who have been making headlines for years.
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Alexis Michelle may have rocketed to fame on season 7 of Drag Race, but her cousin, singer-songwriter Lisa Loeb, has been famous for decades. She's most well known for her hit song "Stay (I Missed You)" from the Reality Bites soundtrack — if you were a '90s teen, you remember her because you've seen the quintessential Gen X film a million times.
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Drag Race season 11 star Honey Davenport is the cousin of famed Hollywood filmmaker Lee Daniels, who is best known for directing Precious, The Deliverance, and the Halle Berry movie Monster’s Ball.
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Drag icon and Mother RuPaul is world famous for her creating and hosting RuPaul’s Drag Race, but her politically minded cousin makes headlines all of the time, too. RuPaul is the cousin of one of the more progressive members of the U.S. Senate, Democrat Cory Booker (N.J.).
Courtesy of BBC/World of Wonder; Wham! via YouTube
Drag Race season two star Tayce is related to queer culture royalty! Tayce’s dad is none other than Wham! bassist Roger Radix. Tayce has said that her parents have always been supportive of her drag and music career, which makes sense considering he was part of a band fronted by an out gay man who frequently wrote songs about his sexuality.
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Even if you know absolutely nothing about baseball, you’ve likely heard of Drag Race season 6 star Kelly Mantle’s uncle since his name is basically synonymous with America’s pastime. The comedy queen is the niece of famous New York Yankee superstar Mickey Mantle, who is widely considered to be one of the best players of all time.
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Raja, who won the third season of Drag Race, is the niece of famous Indonesian philosopher, writer, politician, and journalist Hamka. He was a prolific Islamic writer who penned 84 books and is considered to be an Indonesian National Hero.
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Drag Race season 16 queen Plasma is the grandson of well-known Republican lawmaker Bill Ratliff, who was the Lieutenant Gov. of Texas and a member of the Texas State Senate. Plasma’s uncle Bennett Ratliff is also a famous Republican, a former member of the Texas House of Representatives, currently serving as a Planning and Zoning Commissioner in Plano, Texas.
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Monica Beverly Hillz and her cousin Rima Mellal are both famous for appearing on reality TV. While Monica competed in the fifth season of Drag Race and All Stars 8, her cousin was in Bad Girls Club’s ninth season in Mexico and then came back for season 13.
Courtesy of World of Wonder'; Kathy Hutchins/Shutterstock
Milk, who competed in Drag Race season 6 and All Stars 3, is Tom Kenny's cousin. You may not know his name, but you definitely know his voice! Kenny voices the titular SpongeBob SquarePants, as well as Heffer Wolfe in Rocko's Modern Life, Ice King in Adventure Time, and Dog in CatDog, just to name a few.
Ariel Messman-Rucker is an Oakland-born journalist who now calls the Pacific Northwest her home. When she’s not writing about politics and queer pop culture, she can be found reading, hiking, or talking about horror movies with the Zombie Grrlz Horror Podcast Network.
Ariel Messman-Rucker is an Oakland-born journalist who now calls the Pacific Northwest her home. When she’s not writing about politics and queer pop culture, she can be found reading, hiking, or talking about horror movies with the Zombie Grrlz Horror Podcast Network.