AMANDA LEPORE

Not many can claim that they have a watch, a doll and a rubber duck made of them, on top of being a LGBT icon.  But beneath the glitz and the glamour, and beyond the whimsical tips about hair bleaching and other ephemeral precepts, what’s the one thing that Amanda Lepore regrets in life?

PHOTOGRAPH BY VIJAT MOHINDRAI

Where do you live now?  In New York.  If you had to live somewhere else, where would it be, and why?  In Paris, because it’s so pretty and it’s the “City of Love.”  What New York venue do you miss that’s gone?  The Diamond Horseshoe.  It was such a gorgeous venue—very glamorous, with an old Hollywood vibe.  What’s your claim-to-fame?  Working with David LaChapelle, and being his muse.  What’s your favorite LaChapelle photograph?  Addicted to Diamonds.


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What’s your ultimate goal in show business?  I would love to have my own show.  Something beautiful and elaborate, like Zumanity in Las Vegas.  How would you like to be remembered?  For making people happy.  Will you ever retire?  No, not anytime soon.  Since you’re known for makeup, did you ever read Joan Crawford’s book, My Way of Life?  I never read it.  I do love the movie Mommie Dearest, though!  What’s the weirdest question that a fan has asked?  Nothing weird.  My fans are amazing and super respectful—I’m a fan of my fans!

PHOTOGRAPH BY DAVID LACHAPELLE

What celebrity did you act like a “fan” around?  Traci Lords.  It was such a treat to work with her recently, since I admire her so much.  I think she’s so smart, especially with how she turned a scandal around and formed her own company to keep the rights to her work.  And then she went on to do real movies, TV and became a singer.  As you can see, I’m a “fan-girl” to follow her career like this (laughs).  What the last thing that you looked at online?  Shopping.  I’m always shopping and looking for unique items to make my own costumes and accessories.

PHOTOGRAPH BY JOEY FALSETTA

What the best place that you’ve visited, and why?  Ibiza.  It’s a continuous party there.  It’s like an extended, twenty-hour version of one of my shows (laughs).  What’s something that you learned in life only when you got older?  Not to overlap bleach.  What did you learn from your parents?  When I was picked on as a kid, my mother would tell me to hold my head high with pride, and to always be myself.  Other than Marilyn Monroe, what actress do you admire?  Jayne Mansfield.  She’s a cartoon version of Marilyn Monroe.  What performer do you admire, and why?  David Bowie, because he was ahead of his time, gender-fluid, gorgeous, had great style, and he made great music, too.

PHOTOGRAPH BY VICTORIA JANASHVILI.

What’s your best characteristic?  My petite hour-glass figure, and my lips.  How do you enjoy spending your time?  Working on looks for my shows, and working on new costumes and accessories.  What celebrity do you have a crush on?  David Bowie.  If you could bring one person back from the dead, who would it be, and why?  David Bowie, for all the reasons that I previously mentioned!  Where would you go in a time machine?  I like to stay in the present.  What would your last meal be?  One cornflake.  What do you worry about?  I’m too busy.  I don’t have time to worry.


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If you were a musical instrument, what would you be, and why?  A violin, because of its hourglass figure.  Are you more like a sheep or a wolf?  A sheep, duh!  I’m soft, curly and blonde.  If you wrote a sequel to Doll Parts, what would it be called?  Doll Parts IIWhat’s your greatest regret in life?  Not being born genetically a female.  It would have saved a lot of time and a lot of money!  What’s something that you never told anyone else?  That I’ve had plastic surgery (laughs)!  Where can we see you?  At Deryck Todd’s STRUT! at Acme on 3/13/2018, at Suzanne Bartsch’s Bareback Follies at The McKittrick Hotel on 3/16/2018, and at the Twisted Circus Tour UK from March 30 to April 7.

PHOTOGRAPH BY MARCO OVANDO