Interview with the next drag superstar BeBe Zahara Benet

Nea Marshall Kudi aka BeBe Zahara Benet

Logo's surprise hit reality competition RuPaul's Drag Race took viewers behind the curtain of the world of drag artists and introduced us to a collection of distinctive and utterly unique personalities. When the show wrapped up its first season this week (a second is in the works) one lone queen was crowned by RuPaul as America's next drag superstar, and that queen was Cameroon's own Bebe Zahara Benet.

Known for her eye-popping outfits and voluminous wigs, Benet established herself from the start as a no-nonsense professional who took both her craft and her competition very seriously. But thanks to the show's clever split-screen premise, we also got to know the man behind the hair, Nea Marshall Kudi. Each week we saw the boyish Kudi transform from an unassuming, almost playful man into a bona fide drag icon ready to serve it up on the runway and slay the competition.

I had the chance to sit down with the statuesque stunner on the eve of the series finale and ask Bebe (decked out in full regalia) about the show, her roots and her future. 

AE: You guys shot how long ago?
BZB: I don’t know! That’s how far. I’ve forgot about it. I can’t even remember. It was July or August. July? August? I can’t remember.

AE: You had almost a whole nine months. . .
BZB: To keep the secret. … And getting more and more hair. But I always, regardless of this, I’ve always been revamping myself because I work as a drag artist five nights a week there, and you get a lot of the same people all the time so you always have to kind of revamp yourself, get some fresh stuff.

AE: Is there a new version of BeBe coming? Or is there a bigger BeBe?
BZB: Oh there is a bigger, bigger . . . yes, there is. There’s a lot I’m working on right now. You know, it’s in the cooking pot. You can’t take it out until it’s like all ready to be eaten, does that make sense?

AE: Of course. So what took you to the Twin Cities where you live now?
BZB: Well, I have family that lives there and when I decided to move to the States, I wanted to go first to a place where I know people, just so I can be able to really study the system, get used to everything and then decide to take it from there, so that’s how I got there.

AE: And you’re still based there?
BZB: I’m still based there and hoping that – I’ve done everything that I can do in Minneapolis and it will always be home to me, but it’s just now time to extend my horizons.

AE: I don’t know if you have noticed that Cameroon has become a catchphrase?
BZB: It has. Do you know how many people call me that? Like it’s become my nickname. It’s like okay, my name is actually BeBe Zahara Benet. But everywhere I go – I was going to L.A. for the reunion show, and when I landed and I was going to get my baggage claim, from nowhere someone just screamed, “Camerooooon!”

AE: I loved in the recap show you said that your parents weren’t expecting this career path for you, but they said if you’re going to do it, then do it. That’s all you can really ask of anyone.
BZB: And that’s how I’ve grown up. That’s how I’ve grown up. My parents’ concern had always been you need to be able to feed yourself. You have to be financially stable. And I feel like that’s a lot of what’s happening in Cameroon, or in Africa in general, and that’s why a lot of African parents do not really want their kids to necessarily take this route, the artistic route because they feel like it’s very, very fifty-fifty.

I hope [my winning] is going to be an inspiration to all those boys and girls back there, even here. That it’s okay. You can do it and you can be successful at it.

AE: How did your parents react to your win?
BZB: My parents actually knew that I won today, this morning.

AE: How did they feel?
BZB: Oh my God, they are thrilled. They are so excited. And drag is something that they still need to – not accept, but feel comfortable with, just because it’s not the norm. It’s not something which they are used to, obviously. But just the fact that they see how much respect I have for my craft and how much dedication I have for the craft and what I’m doing with the craft, they can honor this like that.

AE: It lets them know how much people appreciate it.
BZB: Exactly, and so it was a thrill. And my immediately family is so supportive.

AE: Are they here or back in Cameroon?
BZB: They’re back in Cameroon, but I actually have some siblings here in the States. I have a younger brother and sister who moved here just because I was here and so they wanted to come here to be here with me. And they’re very, very supportive. 

 

AE: You clearly take pride in where you came from and your desire to represent that and show the beauty of that was obviously a big part of your persona and what you presented. When you went into the competition, what did you expect?
BZB: I don’t think I was expecting … I was just hoping that our art is represented the way it was supposed to be represented. That was the concern, because like I said, I do a lot of investment in what I do. This is my life. This is what puts food on the table for me and I wanted to make sure that people can be able to see that. And be able to give it the respect that it deserves.