Drag queen, Trixie Mattel, returns after well-deserved hiatus
Photo courtesy of Wikimedia Commons
Trixie Mattel takes a hiatus after a successful run of numerous business and entertainment projects.
Trixie Mattel is the stage name of Brian Michael Firkus. Mattel is a world-renowned drag queen who rose to fame after her appearance on the seventh season of RuPaul's Drag Race (2009- ) and later took the crown in season three of RuPaul's Drag Race All Stars (2012- ).
On Jul. 15, 2024, Mattel posted a video on her YouTube channel, “I'm Taking A Break! Here's Why,” explaining that she is taking a much-needed three-month break from drag. Mattel told Elle Magazine, “I’m probably not going to come back at the full speed of Trixie anymore. The Trixie we know, the Trixie that is on every YouTube video, on every show, and every TV show, I just can’t sustain that anymore.” She went on to say, “This giant rat wheel that I’ve been running on, I need to pull back a lot.”
Mattel has been a nonstop powerhouse of personal projects. A true Renaissance woman, Mattel defines herself as “an American singer, actor, drag queen, cosmetics maven, renovation expert, and recognized ‘Skinny Legend.’”
Drag is far from Mattel’s only full-time job; she also is a singer-songwriter with four studio albums. On top of this, Mattel is also the founder and Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of Trixie Cosmetics, an incredibly popular makeup and cosmetics company that sells “Pro formulas in toy packaging from drag superstar Trixie Mattel,” according to her website, Trixie Cosmetics.
Her makeup products are often discussed on her YouTube channel. Mattel makes videos going through her new makeup collections, letting her fans get a sneak peek and thorough breakdown of what she designed and why she designed it.
With her YouTube, singing, and cosmetic career, Mattel is also a co-owner of This Is It!, a gay bar and cocktail lounge that has been open since 1968 in Milwaukee, Wisconsin. She is also the co-owner of Trixie Motel, described as “a pink paradise located in the heart of Palm Springs, CA.” It is incredibly impressive that Mattel can take up such a historic mantle by running this bar from her hometown while simultaneously creating new spaces for members of her community and everyday folk alike to gather and unwind.
Not only does Mattel run her own hotel with her partner David Silver, but they made the renovations together on her very own reality TV show, Trixie Motel (2022), on Discovery Plus. The show was such a major success that a spin-off was created, Trixie Motel: Drag Me Home (2024), also on Discovery Plus. In this show, Mattel and Silver renovate their new three-million-dollar historic home in Hollywood. These wildly successful Home & Garden Television (HGTV) shows brought together comedy, drag, celebrity guests, and renovations—a perfect combination of the classic with the increasingly visible art of drag.
It is impossible to talk about Trixie Mattel without talking about her best friend and fellow drag queen, Yekaterina Petrovna Zamolodchikova —known as Katya— who is the drag persona of Brian Joseph McCook. Mattel and Katya met on the set of RuPaul's Drag Race (2009- ) while competing in season seven.
They became quick friends and have been best friends and business partners ever since. Together, they cohost the “wildly popular” YouTube series UNHhhh (2016- ) and the Netflix digital series I Like to Watch (2019- ). If this wasn't impressive enough, Mattel and Katya are New York Times best-selling co-authors of Trixie and Katya’s Guide To Modern Womanhood.
Every time you think Trixie Mattel has done it all, she starts yet another wildly successful project. As someone who is sitting on the edge of my seat waiting to see what she does next, I was sad to hear she would be gone for three months; however, with all Mattel has accomplished, she deserves this vacation.