Typically assembly your heroes seems precisely the way you imagined. That was the case for Shea Couleé when she lastly received to stroll for Naomi Campbell within the season seven premiere of “RuPaul’s Drag Race All Stars.” The “All Stars” season 5 winner could not assist however tear up when she informed the runway coach how a lot she’s meant to her personally — and the scene turned much more emotional when the supermodel began doling out compliments in return.
First, Couleé defined why Campbell means a lot to her in a confessional. “It’s the most sickening, iconic factor to be strolling on the runway in entrance of Naomi Campbell,” she mentioned. “Anyone whose stroll I’ve studied to attempt to emulate her goddess-like power, and that is my second to indicate my trainer all that I’ve discovered.”
And that is precisely what Couleé did. After she strutted down the runway, Campbell was fast to specific how impressed she was with the “All Stars” champ’s efficiency. “You understand what you are doing, you might have it managed, you understand how to gradual it down, to convey it up,” Campbell mentioned. “It was perfection for me.”
Couleé could not assist however cry comfortable tears over her mentor’s compliments. In spite of everything, she’s been candid about simply how a lot Campbell has influenced her profession. In April, she tried to organize viewers for the emotional weight of the candy second in an interview with Leisure Weekly.
“There are few folks I get starstruck round, as a result of individuals are folks, however Naomi Campbell is a goddess. I’ve appeared as much as Naomi since I used to be 4 years previous,” she defined. “Seeing her in Michael Jackson’s [‘In the Closet’] video and being like, ‘Who is that this highly effective, lovely, statuesque Black girl with cascading locks? No matter she is, I need to be her.’ To have her sit there and see me stroll and say that she’d give no notes . . . To listen to these phrases from somebody like Naomi Campbell, that is some of the affirming moments I’ve ever had in my life.”
After the premiere, Couleé shared on Instagram that she cried once more whereas watching the episode again — and this time she let the tears circulate as a result of she did not have to fret about ruining her make-up. “There aren’t sufficient phrases to explain the sensation of strolling the runway in entrance of @naomi,” she captioned a video of the second. “She epitomizes black magnificence and magnificence, and to have her validate me in such a significant approach was a dream come true. I ugly cried watching this again as a result of I did not need to break my make-up on the day.”
