Remembering Sahara: RuPaul and Drag Racers Share Memories

Draq queen Sahara Davenport came into this world as Antoine Ashley and left it too soon. The Drag Race contestant died earlier this month, and RuPaul plus fellow contestants shared fond memories during the All Stars premiere party.

BY Daniel Reynolds

October 22 2012 4:00 AM ET

I wasn’t that close with Sahara. I met her at the Entertainer of the Year pageant here in California. He was coming through just to say hello to everybody — that was the first time I met him. And I remember how he represented RuPaul’s Drag Race so professionally. And he was so kind and on the money and talkative and was a representative of what this show needs to represent. He went out there among the people to show them we are amazing. We are worthy. We are stars. I appreciate that, and I hope it’s something that I can carry on as a Drag Racer. It’s all about representing and doing it properly. You can go out into this world and be a drag queen and a hot mess and drink and fall down, but then you can also choose to be a role model. And that’s what I want to be. I want to help people. I don’t want to take this art down, I want to elevate it. That’s what I aim to do. And that’s what Sahara did.
— Chad Michaels