‘American Idol’ and ‘Drag Race’ Star Adore Delano Comes Out as Transgender

Earlier this week Drag Race star Adore Delano released a video to her Instagram where she came out as transgender.

“There’s no way to start this video or this announcement or whatever without being awkward as hell,” Adore, 33, began, explaining that it was time to share her story because there has been a lot of talk recently about her appearance, body, and gender.

“I wanted to let everybody know that I am transitioning,” she said in the video posted on Wednesday. “I kept it really kind of hush-hush the first three months because I wanted to go through kind of like the beginning stages of puberty privately.”

Adore added: “But I’ve found that it’s been very enlightening, and has made me probably the happiest I’ve ever been in my adult life.”

The American Idol season 8 alum then spoke about her journey with gender.

“It really starts back from when I was a little kid, just not feeling like I belonged anywhere, at all,” Adore said. “Didn’t know what this body was that God gave me thought that I would just make the best of it. I thought that I would just work with what God gave me and be okay with that for a decade. But it was just not enough for my mental stability. And the feelings of just being an absolute other gender.”

She explained that the feelings of gender dysphoria led her to substance misuse. Today, though, she’s sober and said she’s now looking at her feelings directly.

“I feel beautiful. I feel like the chemical imbalance or whatever it was in my head is now leveled,” Adore said. “This is a feeling from dysphoria to euphoria, I’m not completely there. We’ll get into that in a bit. But I’m on the Stairway to Heaven right now.”

​Adore also spoke about her accepting mother who helped her become the woman she is.

“She let me wear makeup, wear my corsets and my crop tops and my booty shorts and live the Freebird that I felt inside,” she shared in the video.

But then she got to American Idol.

“I suppressed everything. I threw it away, I burned it. I tried to reinvent myself. It’s something that I’m really good at doing at the Scorpio rising, but I reinvented myself into something that was so uncomfortable. It was almost like a sacrifice in order to get what I wanted career-wise. And it made sense to me at the time as a 16-year-old. And then I got on the show. And then that carried on to the storyline and to Drag Race,” she recalled.

After her American Idol experience, she stepped back into living in the binary, though more feminine-presenting. She said she looks back on videos from those days with some sadness.

However, now, she said she’s back to living her life and her truth.

“I am on my third month now on estrogen. And I’m not kidding, when I tell you, I am so chill. I love life. Again, I feel almost like a kid going through puberty because I already have that childlike brain. But at the same time. I’m hopeful. I feel good,” Adore said.

Adore went on to thank her fans for their support.

“I wouldn’t be nowhere without my supporters. And I know that you guys know that. I know that. And I’ll die knowing that like you guys have my heart,” she said.

She closed the video with one final proud message.

“I am transgender, my pronouns moving from me not wanting to like offend anybody and be like, you can call me whatever you want. No, I’m taking the go*damn chariot right now. I’m going by she/her.”

Check out Adore's video below as well as some recent stunning images of the singer.