The Vivienne's Drag Race co-star heartbroken over homophobic messages sent days before their death
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The Vivienne’s RuPaul Drag Race co-star Crystal has opened up about her shock and heartbreak at the drag queen’s untimely passing on Sunday, aged just 32. “The homophobia that The Vivienne faced days before her death breaks my heart”, she said, adding that the amount of hate she received has “compounded the tragedy of her passing”.
In a devastating opinion piece for The Metro, Crystal called The Vivienne, real name James Lee Williams, ‘effortlessly funny, whip smart, and more confident than anyone I had ever met". And of her death on January 5, she said, “It has shocked me. Losing a friend so young is a real gut-punch – it doesn’t feel real. But the shock and sadness is heightened because I know her final days were spent on the receiving end of abuse and homophobia.:.
The Canadian-British performer added that the star, who had been playing The Childcatcher in a national tour of Chitty Chitty Bang Bang, was ‘at the top of their game’ in terms of their theatre, TV, comedy and music career - but added that, after they starred on a special Boxing Day episode of Blankety Blank, received trolling for being a drag queen on the show from ‘the usual suspects’.
Though Crystal pointed out that she was not drawing a connection between the online bullying and The Vivienne’s death, she was at pains to point out how ‘incredibly sad’ it made her. "The pile-on Viv received points to a dangerous trend in recent years of the mask slipping, and the public feeling more emboldened to shame queer people simply for being themselves.”.
