***An Instant #1 New York Times Bestseller!***
From international drag superstar and pop culture icon RuPaul, comes his most revealing and personal work to date--a deeply intimate memoir of discovery, found family, and self-acceptance. The House of Hidden Meanings is a self-portrait of the legendary icon on the road to global fame and changing the way the world thinks about drag.
Central to RuPaul’s success has been his chameleonic adaptability. From drag icon to powerhouse producer of one of the world’s largest television franchises, RuPaul’s ever-shifting nature has always been part of his brand as both supermodel and supermogul. Yet that adaptability has made him enigmatic to the public. In this memoir, his most intimate and detailed book yet, RuPaul makes himself truly known.
In The House of Hidden Meanings, RuPaul strips away all artifice and recounts the story of his life with breathtaking clarity and tenderness, bringing his signature wisdom and wit to his own biography. From his early years growing up as a queer Black kid in San Diego navigating complex relationships with his absent father and temperamental mother, to forging an identity in the punk and drag scenes of Atlanta and New York, to finding enduring love with his husband Georges LeBar and self-acceptance in sobriety, RuPaul excavates his own biography life-story, uncovering new truths and insights in his personal history.
Here in RuPaul’s singular and extraordinary story is a manual for living—a personal philosophy that testifies to the value of chosen family, the importance of harnessing what makes you different, and the transformational power of facing yourself fearlessly.
A profound introspection of his life, relationships, and identity, The House of Hidden Meanings is a self-portrait of the legendary icon on the road to global fame and changing the way the world thinks about drag. “I've always loved to view the world with analytical eyes, examining what lies beneath the surface. Here, the focus is on my own life—as RuPaul Andre Charles,” says RuPaul.
If we’re all born naked and the rest is drag, then this is RuPaul totally out of drag. This is RuPaul stripped bare.
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“RuPaul writes with a maturity that readers can sense he earned early in life and a memory that brings alive moments both outrageous and transcendent…This vibrant and multifaceted celebrity memoir will have readers rapt.”
— Booklist (starred review)
“RuPaul has written books before, but…these are stories you’ve never heard before from a global icon.”
— Barnes&Noble.com“A probing, emotionally raw memoir that’s an introspective examination of RuPaul’s family and the issues he confronted before embracing self-love.”
— Library Journal (starred review)“RuPaul punctuates his life story with knowledgeable opinions on issues like systemic oppression, Black victimization, and the queer community…A highly candid, empowering celebrity self-portrait.”
— Kirkus ReviewsRuPaul is an actor, musician, television personality and internationally beloved drag queen. He is a Tony Award® winner and a twelve-time Primetime Emmy Award®-winning executive producer of one of the world’s largest television franchises, RuPaul’s Drag Race. He holds the Guinness World Records title for most Emmy wins for Outstanding Host of Reality/Competition Program and most Emmy awards of any Black artist in history.