Trixie Mattel is taking a mental health break from drag

Despite not winning her first Drag Race season, it’s safe to say that Trixie Mattel has been winning ever since. But now the ever-hustling drag sensation is seeking a more sustainable lifestyle, starting with an extended hiatus from drag.

Since her first appearance on the 7th season of Drag Race, Mattel has achieved breakout success through a relentless touring schedule, a ubiquitous YouTube presence, a cosmetics line, four studio albums and six seasons hosting the Drag Race recap show The Pit Stop. In collaboration with her creative partner Katya, Mattel has also earned a massive fanbase through the World of Wonder series UNHhhh, Netflix’s I Like to Watch and the podcast The Bald and the Beautiful.

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All in all, her massive stardom is a far cry from her small town origins. “In a world with nepo babies, I came from nothing,” Mattel reflected in a new interview with Elle. “I was [from] the poorest family in a small town. I grew up in a trailer with six people. My expectations for what I could do for myself were so low, because even when I went to college and got my first job, I felt rich. I felt so successful that I could pay my bills.”

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Mattel experienced her first big break on Drag Race. Even as she lost her initial season, she eventually won Season 3 of Drag Race All Stars. “Drag, for me, has never been about waiting for other people to tell me when it’s my moment,” Mattel said. “It’s never been about waiting for other people to give me my chair or my flowers and say, now you’re the star. I’ve never felt like I needed that validation. I just always believed in myself.”

But now, after fighting her way to fame, Mattel is understandably looking to slow the hustle down. “I can’t really do it anymore,” she said. “I’m going on a three or four month sabbatical: July, August, September, and October. I’m not even doing social media, so I’m going to really be gone for a while.”

In all likelihood, Mattel will not return at the same capacity. “I’m probably not going to come back at the full speed of Trixie anymore,” she said. “The Trixie we know, the Trixie that is on every YouTube video, on every show, and every TV show, I just can’t sustain that anymore. This giant rat wheel that I’ve been running on, I need to pull back a lot.

“So it will be honestly this phase of everybody being like, ‘You’re everywhere. How do you do it?’ You do it by running yourself in the ground. I want a family, and I want a life, and I haven’t really had that. I’ll probably grow a beard.”

While that’s bad news for some of us, Mattel joked that there’ll be more than a few queens celebrating the hiatus. “Besides, the other drag queens have been waiting for me to take my high heel off their throats for years,” she said. “They love it when I get a sick day. Those fucking bitches love it when I get sick. They love it.”

Trixie Mattel might be taking an extended break from drag, but we’ll still catch her on our screens for some time. The second season of the house renovation show Trixie Motel: Drag Me Home is currently streaming on Max.