As a singer, TV host, performer, media personality, LGBTQ advocate, and RuPaul’s BFF, Michelle Visage is a name most of us are at least vaguely familiar with. Since rising to fame as one-third of R&B sensation Seduction (remember “Two to Make It Right”? That was them), Visage’s career has gone from strength to strength, giving her a presence and a platform in pretty much every avenue of the entertainment industry there is. Find out more with these ten little facts.
1. Finding her Place
Growing up in New Jersey, Visage always felt an outsider. “Being an adopted kid, I never felt like I fit in anywhere, let alone in a peer circle,” she’s since recalled to Vulture. And then the late 1980s hit. In the burgeoning club scene of New York, Visage found her home and with it, her people. “I walked into this group of like 20 or 30 people, the weirdest, craziest, queerest misfit group I’ve ever seen, the hair stood up on my arms like I knew I was home,” she explained. “I had found my tribe, which had never existed before.”
2. Seduction
Before she achieved recognition for her TV work, Visage was best known as one-third of the R&B dance group, Seduction. The trio of April Harris, Visage, and Idalis DeLeón signed up to A&M Record in 1990, releasing several successful singles (including the monster hit, “Two to Make It Right”) before going their separate ways in 1991. Since the group disbanded, Visage has continued to dabble in the music biz, providing vocals for The S.O.U.L. S.Y.S.T.E.M. and featuring on several albums alongside her longtime buddy and collaborator, RuPaul.
3. Best of Friends
Visage may be a happily married woman, but the man we most associate her with is most definitely not her husband. Michelle and RuPaul first met in the late 1980s at a club night hosted by the legendary event producer, Susanne Bartsch. The pair struck up a friendship, with each becoming the Ying to the other’s Yang. In 1996, the friendship took on a professional veneer when Visage became the co-host of RuPaul’s VH1 talk show, The RuPaul Show. Since then, they’ve continued to work together on everything from RuPaul’s Drag Race to the daytime chat show, RuPaul.
4. Self-Confessed Anglophile
She may have been born and raised in the good old USA of A, but Visage is a fully paid up anglophile at heart. “In another lifetime, I was definitely gay and I was definitely British”, she told Good Housekeeping. “If I could be here (in Britain) full time, I would be here full time. I love it. I love everything about it. It literally feels like home for me.”
5. Overcoming Illness
Visage might look the picture of health today, but the star has done battle with more than her share of illness. As a child, the star developed anorexia, an eating disorder which continued all the way into adulthood. At 29, she suffered the further blow of being diagnosed with Hashimoto’s disease, an auto-immune condition that attacks the thyroid gland. After keeping the condition secret for years, Visage finally came clean about her battle in 2019, revealing she’d had her famous breast implants removed in a bid to try and improve her health.
6. Healthy Living
As someone who’s had her share of health troubles, Visage is doing everything in her power to stay as fit and healthy as she can. As part of her health kick, she’s eliminated almost anything that doesn’t come with a “free-from” label from her diet… a decision that, while admirable, doesn’t always make her life very easy, especially when she’s on the road. “I’m a gluten-free, soy-free vegan who also tries to be sugar-free as much as possible, so it can be crazy on the road trying to find things to eat,” she’s explained to the Huff Post. “Once we were in Madison, Wisconsin and I was trying to explain what veganism was at a restaurant, and they went, “So can you eat roast beef?”
7. Sore Loser
Despite being offered the chance to appear on Dancing with the Stars on multiple occasions, Visage decided to hold off for the chance to appear on the UK equivalent, Strictly Come Dancing. After years of waiting, she finally got the opportunity in 2019. “I held off on Dancing with the Stars, as I didn’t want to do anything with it because I was hoping Strictly would happen — and it did!” she’s recalled. Unfortunately, her dreams of walking off with the trophy came to nothing when her Street Commercial routine with partner Giovanni Pernice ended in elimination. According to The Daily Mirror, Visage took the loss badly, storming off the set and snubbing her fans after claiming to feel less ‘welcomed’ than the show’s other stars.
8. A Woman in Love
Visage has been married to her husband David since 1997, and it’s evident that the couple, who share parenting duties of their two daughters, Lillie and Lola, are just as much in love today as they were then. “We spend every waking moment together, he helps me with my career, we’re rearing our children together,” she gushed to The Mirror. “He is my best friend”.
9. Putting Pen to Paper
In 2015, Visage put pen to paper for the first time with her book, ‘The Diva Rules: Ditch the Drama, Find Your Strength, and Sparkle Your Way to the Top’. Featuring 25 invaluable life lessons such as “Give Good Face,” and “Be Thankful You’re a Misfit,” the book promises its readers the change to find their own ‘inner power’ while getting a little glimpse into Visage’s life in the process.
10. Reality TV Queen
Over the past few years, Visage has been popping up regularly on just about any reality TV show and competition worth its salt. As well as proving one of the most popular contestants on the fifteenth series of Celebrity Big Brother in 2015, she’s also appeared on Strictly Come Dancing, The Only Way Is Essex, The X Factor, Ireland’s Got Talent, and even the Eurovision Song Contest.
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