'It's the First Time I've Competed As Myself' - Ginger Minj Opens Up about 'All Stars' Diagnosis

Drag star Ginger Minj is on an epic health journey and owning a diagnosis that was made thanks to "Drag Race: All Stars."

The 40-year-old icon told Entertainment Weekly that prior to being asked onto "All Stars 10," she'd been so sick she thought she was going to die. Now, though, she's taken charge of her wellness, got her blood pressure and pre-diabetes under control, and shed 160 pounds.

"My mental health has never been better," Minj exulted. "I have so much energy, love, and happiness that I'm ready to share with the world."

The drag star made another admission, revealing to EW that she had gotten a diagnosis that, she says, put "my existence into perspective so quickly for me.... I've learned so many different tools to be like, this isn't something that should hold me back. It should be more of a superpower, a strength of mine. I leaned into it."

That diagnosis? Autism.

Minj related that she had wondered whether she might be autistic, but only now does she have the confirmation that's empowered her to take even more control of her life and authenticity.

"To be candid, I didn't find out that I was truly autistic – of course I had my assumptions through my life – until we did the casting process for 'All Stars 10' and I went in for my psychiatric evaluation," the entertainer said. "The way I communicated, the therapist said, 'Are you autistic? Are you on the spectrum?'"

"I had my suspicions, but I said I'd never been tested," Minj went on to add. "I got tested, and I am."

The actor and recording artist has been on three previous seasons of "All Stars," as well as having competed on Season 7 of "RuPaul's Drag Race." This time, though, it's a different game, she mused.

"I'd heard the term masking for so long but didn't realize that's what I did daily," the drag star explained. "Now, I understand myself so much better. That's what held me back on my other seasons of 'Drag Race.' Coming across insincere, because I was so concerned about how other people would perceive me or misunderstand the words I said – particularly the fan response to ["RuPal's Drag Race"] Season 7. Now, understanding more of who I am, I felt this burden lifted off my shoulders."

Added Minj: "No matter what happens, it's so celebratory for me, because it's the first time I've truly competed as myself."

And it seems to be working... as well as werking. Asked if she knew she had made guest judge Ariana Grande weep on the latest epsiode, Minj recounted, "I completely blacked out. I knew it was a moment for me to prove that I can do a lip-sync that doesn't rely on being funny, campy, and pulling faces.... It's coming from less of a silly place and more of a, hey, this is truly me in this moment. It wasn't until we were back in the Werk Room that someone told us we made Cynthia and Ariana cry."

Minj spoke about her longstanding connection with Grande, saying, "Ariana and I were both on Season 7.... I've watched her grow in her career, so it was fun to show the flipside of that, and for her to see how far I've come."

The emotional impact goes both ways.

"When I was at my lowest, before I got the call for 'All Stars 10,' I was in that hospital bed, genuinely thinking that those were going to be my last moments on Earth. And then the 'Wicked' trailer dropped," Minj recounted, calling that trailer's release "the first time I forgot about feeling sick, and the first time I felt any kind of joy or hope."

"It gave me something to look forward to," the drag icon added. "To be able to thank the people that pulled me out of the depths of despair was a moment I couldn't let pass by, but also be the autistic, ADHD person that I am, I had so many racing thoughts.... It was a volcanic eruption of emotion that was pent up for so long, and it came out in the form of relief, joy, and thankfulness."

Ginger Minj was not the only "All Stars 10" contestant to find out that she is autistic thanks to her involvement with the "Drag Race" franchise. "RPDR" Season 13 star Tina Burner explained in a social media post that "Drag Race" has a mental health resource called Queen Care through which she, like Ginger Minj, was diagnosed as autistic. And, like Minj, Burner found the diagnosis empowering.

"I finally had answers to so many questions," Burner recounted on Instagram. "If you know me you know I love a project. For the first time in my life, THE PROJECT IS ME!!!"

That would seem to fit with what Burner suggested about her life as an artist.

"I've pushed myself to actually find out who I really was," the former Boy Band member posted. "Not only in my physical drag transformation, but more so on the inside."

"My whole life there have been so many things I never understood. Why I am who I am. Why I act certain ways in social settings, in relationships, in friendships and just life in general. My overwhelming focus on things and certain patterns. For years I tried to 'quiet the creative' inside me."

No more!

The drag community has been under unrelenting political and legislative attack in recent years, with right-wing lawmakers seeking to limit who can attend even the most innocuous of drag shows and lawmakers seeking to lump drag performances with forms of "adult entertainment" like pornography.

Pundits and lawmakers have also baselessly smeared drag artists as "groomers" who endanger and "sexualize" children.

What's more, the current administration has appointed Robert F. Kennedy, Jr. as the Secretary of Health and Human Services, despite RKF's status as a vaccine denier who has claimed that vaccinations against childhood diseases can cause autism – a claim that has been thoroughly debunked.

Perhaps more controversially, RFK Jr. has also stated that people with autism "will never pay taxes, they'll never hold a job, they'll never play baseball, they'll never write a poem, they'll never go out on a date."

"Many of them will never use a toilet unassisted," Kennedy added.

Those remarks – and Kennedy's claim that "autism destroys families" – were immediately assailed as suggesting that autistic people are burdens who cannot be productive members of society or enjoy their lives.

"A 2023 study written by CDC officials and university researchers found that one-quarter of people on the autism spectrum have severe limitations," PBS noted in a writeup on Kennedy's claims. "But this is on the high end of studies, and many people in that one-quarter of the autism population do not have the limitations Kennedy mentioned.

"The vast majority of people on the spectrum do not have those severe challenges."