Anxiety Crushes Dreams: Baby Explains Why She Quit

This week’s episode of RuPaul’s Drag Race UK Season 4 was quite entertaining. I really enjoyed the Rusical and liked most of the performances. This time we get a self-elimination – the gag of it all! Baby shockingly decided to leave the competition because of her struggles with anxiety.

I was quite surprised by Baby’s feedback this episode. The judges were talking about seeing a fear in her performances, however I disagree. Baby was quite fierce and I could see her trying really hard. She had a solid performance in the Rusical and I was baffled why they put her in the bottom.

When it was time for RuPaul to make his decision, Baby abruptly announced she would like to leave the competition and focus on herself. To be honest, Baby’s storyline was quite strangely edited on the show. Nothing was explicitly shown or explained why she was having such a difficult time. It was very: “well, I’m struggling and I’m leaving! Bye!”

Baby explained on Twitter how she really felt on the show and those scenes were never shown to the audience.

Baby explained she was having very frequent and aggressive panic attacks during the filming and it was impossible for her to control those feelings. Some of the queens were very supportive, but it just wasn’t enough.

Baby’s doing good. Let’s remember – the show was filmed some time ago, so naturally she had some time to recuperate. She even said: “Don’t worry about me, I’m booked and my bills are paid.”

Anxiety is a killer

As a performer, people have this expectation of you to entertain and be on your best behavior, which can be very exhausting. Another drag queen who had similar issues was Katya. I still remember how she was visibly distraught by the competition on RuPaul’s Drag Race Season 7.

Also, Laganja Estranja comes to mind. She was also very unwell on her season and she later admitted the competition multiplied her anxiety.

Anxiety should not be taken lightly. I do sympathize with every person who goes through it. Baby did a solid job and maybe we will see her on a future All Stars season. Who knows?

What do you think about this whole situation? Are you enjoying Season 4 of RuPaul’s Drag Race UK? Leave a comment! Let’s chat!