RuPaul’s Drag Race All Stars 10 competitor Ginger Minj is opening up about her recent autism diagnosis and the role the show has played in her health journey.
“To be candid, I didn’t find out that I was truly autistic — of course I had my assumptions through my life — until we did the casting process for All Stars 10 and I went in for my psychiatric evaluation,” Minj revealed while speaking to Entertainment Weekly for an interview published on Saturday, June 14.
“The way I communicated, the therapist said, ‘Are you autistic? Are you on the spectrum?’ I had my suspicions, but I said I’d never been tested,” she continued. “He said he’d like me to be tested. So, I did. I got tested, and I am.”
The Drag Race star went on to explain that the diagnosis put “40 years of my existence into perspective.”
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“I’ve learned so many different tools to be like, this isn’t something that should hold me back,” she added. “It should be more of a superpower, a strength of mine. I leaned into it. Communication is so important to me, because I’m so concerned about being misconstrued or misunderstood, what are ways I can figure that out for [myself], and not have to rely on social cues from other people?”
Ginger Minj attends RuPaul’s Drag Race All Stars 10 Red carpet. Santiago Felipe/Getty Images for Paramount+
Minj, who is returning to the stage on All Stars 10 for her fourth round of Drag Race competition for a shot at the crown and a whopping $200,000 prize, considers her diagnosis to be a “blessing,” and told the outlet that she now has “the answer and ability to learn.”
“I’d heard the term masking for so long but didn’t realise that’s what I did daily,” she continued. “Now, I understand myself so much better. That’s what held me back on my other season of Drag Race. Coming across insincere, because I was so concerned about how other people would perceive me or misunderstand the words I said — particularly the fan response to season 7. Now, understanding more of who I am, I felt this burden lifted off my shoulders.”
She added, “No matter what happens, it’s so celebratory for me, because it’s the first time I’ve truly competed as myself.”
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In addition to better understanding herself as a result of her diagnosis, Minj has been on a physical health journey, telling the outlet that she was “at my heaviest” six months before All Stars 10.
“I was prediabetic, my blood pressure was out of control, my sugar levels were off the charts,” she shared. “I had zero energy, and I got sick to the point that they pumped me full of different medications — including massive amounts of prednisone. It made me completely spiral, to the point where I genuinely thought I was going to die.”
She continued, “I decided to come back because it was a catalyst to get my life together. It gave me the kick in the ass I needed to get it under control.”
Since then, Minj says she has lost 160 pounds and is no longer prediabetic.
“My blood pressure is under control. I’m off those medications. My mental health has never been better,” she said. “I have so much energy, love and happiness that I’m ready to share with the world.”
