Tiara Skye on finding freedom through drag: ‘I decided, f* this – I was going to fight anyone who came for me’ (EXCLUSIVE)
The Drag Award winner at the 2025 Virgin Atlantic Attitude Awards shares her emotional story of survival, self-discovery, and finding light through her art on the road to social media stardom
By Aaron Sugg
Is there a gay in the UK who has yet to see a sassy Tiara Skye video on their social feed? The recipient of this year’s Drag Award at the 2025 Virgin Atlantic Attitude Awards, powered by Jaguar, is the self-styled “street walker/queer talker” video sensation who brings a hefty dose of attitude to UK pavements.
Having grown up in a small village just outside Cape Town, Tiara speaks softly as she recalls the “interesting experience” of her childhood and the years before her transition. “I always lived in my own little bubble from a very young age. It’s a country where things happen to you from a very young age, so you kind of fend for yourself early on.”
Nevertheless, Tiara felt a specialness in being different. “There is something about you that’s special, and that is being queer in general, or all of the things the world tells us are bad. Those are the things that really make us shine.”
“I was told I was a faggot almost every day by family members and at school” – Tiara Skye growing up in South Africa
Music became an early refuge, which has continued throughout her adult life. We’ve even seen her singing with the likes of Courtney Act at Manchester Pride. “I sang in the choir, and I got my first lead,” she says, as we joke that she was born for fame from the very beginning. “I’m already a star,” she quips. “There was a woman called Anne… She really believed in me. It felt like at the time, she gave me opportunities that no one gave me. No one took the time to really invest in a child like me because I was told I was a faggot almost every day by family members and at school,” she says, becoming visibly emotional with each word. “All of those things, but she took me under her wing.”
When Tiara confided in her parents about her identity, wanting to seek help for the way she felt, she quickly realised they did not understand. “I mentioned to them as a child that I think something’s wrong with me. I wanted to see a therapist when I was about 10 or 11, just to kind of change me. But for them, it was an inconvenience having a child that brings that attention.”
Firmly standing up for herself is a skill she tells me that she has had to master all her life. “Even after changing schools because it got overwhelming, I kept going. I actually tried to commit suicide in grade six, but that experience, as traumatic as it was, was a huge growing moment.”
“Like a thief in the night: ‘I will find you!'” – Tiara recalled her father saying when she was out performing in drag
It changed something inside her, shaping the Tiara we know today. “I decided, ‘Fuck this.’ I was confident. I was going to fight anyone who came for me.” She began exploring drag in secret with her cousins, sneaking out to clubs, hiding from her father and discovering a stage persona that would eventually evolve into the woman she is now. “I was dragging from the age of 14, 15, darling. We would go to clubs with my friends, who are my cousins as well. They would take me and we would hide.”
Recalling one terrifying night when her father, unaware of her drag life, messaged her, she shakes her head in a sashay motion. “My father sent a message,” she says, pausing: “Like a thief in the night: ‘I will find you!’” She lets out a Tiara scream. “Darling, it scared the shit out of me. But, that’s how we were.”
She says that her parents struggled to understand her identity: her father was not able to accept it, and religion was her mother’s priority. “I will support her doing her thing, but with the way my life is and my beliefs, I don’t think that we can really connect in the way that I would love to, but the love is there.”
“That was the day I left. I was about 17 years old” – Tiara on leaving home because her father could not accept her identity
She continues, “When I came out of the closet, the words that my father said to me were that he can’t have a gay son. And that was the day I left. I was about 17 years old.” The support of the broader community became a lifeline, with people giving Tiara a place to stay and a stage on which to shine. “Thank God for the community that we have wherever we go. Sadly, not every place is safe, but when we find our tribes, it’s really amazing.”
By the time Tiara went to university to study psychology, her drag career was taking off. She formed a drag group called Five Roses, which later transitioned into 3D, the Three Divas Cabaret. Why Three Divas? “Well, Destiny’s Child happened,” she laughs with Beyoncé energy. She spent nearly a decade performing across South Africa, “We tried to create gigs for ourselves, places where gays and drag and queer was not allowed. We would drive from town to town, gig to gig, making people aware of the beauty of drag.
“We were mostly booked by straight audiences, which was crazy, but we understood our role,” says Tiara. She thanks members Angel Lalamore (“one of the first drag ones that I’ve seen perform”) and Kat Gilardi. Recalling when she first laid eyes on Gilardi, Tiara adds, “We all stopped, baby. It was like, ‘Oh, my gosh.’ And that was one of the first times I’ve seen beautiful, professional drag in action. She had a big role in my life.” Admittedly, the girl group lasted longer than Tiara’s degree, which she abandoned after just a few months.
‘There’s so much coming up’ – Tiara Skye on whether she will be on Drag Race
Tiara is quick to shut down any questions about Drag Race. “I can’t talk about Drag Race because, obviously, you know these shows are all contractual. Of course, darling,” she says with a knowing smile. For a moment we just stare at each other, until a Tiara scream bursts out of me, caught by her contagious laugh. “No, no. There’s so much coming up.”
After an hour of laughter, emotional reminiscing and more than one Tiara scream, we raise a glass and toast her success, and to her moment as our cover girl. As we part ways, one question still lingers in the air: “Are you going to be a lesbian tonight?”
Photographer: Mark Cant
Stylist: Joshua Graham
This is an excerpt from a feature appearing in the 2025 Attitude Awards issue. To see the full feature, order your copy of the Attitude Awards 2025 issue now or read it alongside 15 years of back issues on the free Attitude app.