Hey y'all. Hi. Welcome to Coming Out with Lauren and Nicole. We are a weekly podcast where we have queer folks on from all walks of life. They tell us the tales of how they came out to friends, family, and the world at large. Because who doesn't love a coming out story? Who doesn't? No one. Today,

today we have actor Lauren Neal with us. Hey. Hello. Hello. Hello. Lauren, you might not know

this, but I feel like the first time that I saw you, at least when I put like name and face together,

because we have like

we're on like similar circle um was seeing you perform your uh your drag performances as as prince

oh in January I think it was in January oh yeah that was the first time I ever did it it was

awesome oh cool I was very nervous about it you So cool. You couldn't tell. It was

absolutely awesome. Yeah, it was a, like a drag king show. And I went for my friends who were the

Backstreet Boys. Yeah. What is there? Yes. Backstreet bushes. Backstreet bushes. Which we've had one of them on here.

We need to collect the rest of the stuff. Yes. Yes. A big group interview. A big group interview. Yeah, they're great. But I went to go support them and then it was just an awesome show and your performance really, really stood out to me. I loved it. It was just so awesome. Thank you. Yeah. Yeah, I was very nervous about it. That just came up randomly because I was prints once for Halloween. And everyone was like oh, you actually have an uncanny resemblance to Prince. You don't not look like Prince. You don't see the jaw structure. Yeah. I can like see in the eyes. Yeah. I can see it. I can see it. Prince is very effeminate too. And he's small. Yeah. Is it tight? Was. Oh, God. I still like forget.

All our heroes. Oh, yeah. He definitely, he absolutely, his face is very feminine. I mean,

just like beautifully androgynous. Tiny little. Yeah. Before that was even cool. Yeah. He kind of made

it cool. I'll be honest. I got it. Probably both. I'm going to go ahead. I got it.

Probably both. I'm going to go ahead. Yes, that's fair. Wait, so that was the first time you did Prince, or that was the first time you did drag? Drag. Wow, that's amazing. I mean, just the second time I did Prince, so I did Prince just that one Halloween. But for Halloween, but that was the first time you did, like, a drag show? Yeah, we'd done a drag party

before for Halloween.

We like to have

like really big fun, like themed parties at my house. And our roommates at the time got into drag because we were watching Rupal a lot and whatever. And so, but the first time we had that party, I just like did high femme drag and I was Amy Winehouse. Oh, that's great, too. Yeah. I feel like I can only do drag or, like, impersonate people I actually really like myself, too. That makes a hundred percent. I just don't think I can commit to spending that much time dressing up as somebody that I'm not, you know, enamored of. Yeah. How did you, how did you, like, choreograph that whole thing? Because what was the song again that you did, which print song? It was a lot. Yeah, you did a medley, right? Yeah. Okay, cool. I don't know. So for me, like, I didn't want to just get up and, like, wiggle around on stage. Yeah. Right? And also I knew I didn't have time to like fully choreograph something, which is the only

way I feel like I would actually feel comfortable just dancing. Sure. And so I, this is like too much information, I guess, but the way I was thinking about, you know, doing this drag performance, because it was just a fundraiser, right, for this movie that I was in. So I was like, sure, like I will participate.

But I wanted it to mean something.

Sorry. right for this movie that I was in. So I was like, sure, like I will participate, but I wanted it to mean something.

So I was thinking about like what are the political implications of, you know, me, you know, self-identifying female,

dressing up as prince who, you know, was gender bending and all that stuff.

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