Jinkx Monsoon has never been shy about shaking up history, and now she’s using Mary Todd Lincoln to do it. The two-time RuPaul’s Drag Race winner and star of Oh, Mary! sat down with writer and media personality Evan Ross Katz for Them’s latest digital cover, opening up about her evolving career, her sobriety, and the state of LGBTQ+ rights in America.
Channeling Mary Todd Lincoln
Monsoon said stepping into Mary’s shoes has given her a new level of candor.
“Well, I’m a cunt,” she quipped. “When I started taking in Mary, I started feeling freer to say what was on my mind, whether I thought it was going to be a comfortable thing to say or not.”
Her performance isn’t just about 19th-century drama, it’s about reflecting the present. “We are living in the aftermath of a centuries-long facade,” she told Katz. “And now there is a war on objective truth because we kept it hidden for too long.”
Rising, Falling, and Finding Purpose
Looking back, Monsoon doesn’t sugarcoat her journey. “My fame did all the things: It rose, it plateaued, it fell,” she said. Rather than a single breakout moment, her career was a “slow, long climb” built on persistence.
That persistence also meant reevaluating her relationship to success. “When I started worrying about the hype and the notoriety and the popularity, I really lost sight of why I started doing this,” she admitted. Sobriety, she added, has sharpened her instincts and allowed her to focus on the art itself.
Serving Through the Spotlight
For Monsoon, visibility is a tool. “I have so much more ability to help the more notoriety I get,” she said. “If I show up and do my best work, that’s how I serve my community. And in turn, my work has purpose.”
That sense of responsibility fuels her fire when it comes to LGBTQ+ rights. Speaking just a day after the Supreme Court was asked to revisit marriage equality, she pointed out the contradictions in the opposition. Citing former Kentucky clerk Kim Davis, who blocked same-sex marriage licenses despite multiple divorces of her own, Monsoon didn’t hold back: “That’s hypocrisy! … Feelings aren’t facts!”
Broadway and Beyond
The first lady of drag also had praise for her Broadway successor, Jane Krakowski, who will take on Mary Todd Lincoln next. “Jane is one of those special performers who gets it all, she knows how to relate to audiences through outlandish circumstances,” Monsoon said. “She is one of us.”
As for her own future, Monsoon isn’t tied to any single medium. “I love creating characters. I love performing with other performers. I love being part of a cast. I love storytelling,” she said. Whether on stage, on screen, or beyond, the mission stays the same: “I’ve really just been following my gut lately … And now, I can trust my instincts.”
