Quotes from Sharon Needles

I don't socialize in drag anymore. If I'm in drag, I'm usually onstage or in the dressing room or in a car service.

Sharon Needles is definitely Pittsburgh - always rough around the edges, a little ignorant, a little uneducated. And she's dead. And Pittsburgh is, after all, the zombie capital of the world, a little financially lower class, and just all-around a gritty, rough city.

I was really into the bimbo archetype that filled late 80s-early 90s TV when I was growing up. You know, women circling the want ads with nail polish, Rhonda Shear from 'U.S.A. Up All Night,' Peggy Bundy.

The most powerful woman I know is my mother, and she doesn't wear any make up at all.

My concept is drag queens are not a reflection of society, they are a fun house reflection of society where we bend, and twist and manipulate the anxieties we all feel.

My house is a mixture of mid-century 'Brady Bunch' and the Addams family, so it's not uncommon to find vials of blood in my house.

I represent a kind of underground, punk side of drag.

Love is a universal thing that everyone understands. Love, like death, is the only thing that binds humanity.

My brain is a great fashion designer. Unfortunately, I don't have the skills to do it.

If anyone ever boos you off stage, that is simply applause from ghosts.

When in doubt, freak 'em out.

A Scream Queen is a beautiful, bad actress who's really good at screaming, but it also represents standing up for equality and anti-bullying for LGBT youth.

Sharon Needles was based on two things: That she was beautiful and that she was stupid.

It's like, 'Oh, great, drag queens can excel!' - but then the ceiling is so low. You're only allowed on the first floor; you're not allowed to go play with the big boys upstairs. Even RuPaul, who's a massive success, has been limited to where her music career can take her.

It sounds odd, but it's almost hard to find a piece of negative press about myself.

I never worry about the social backlash against my work because I'm a man in a dress, and somehow American society creates a buffer on how severe things are when you put a man in a dress.

The secret to a great Halloween costume, and I can't stress this enough, is in my opinion is to extract sexuality out of your costume.

I've always toyed around with creating over-the-top lady characters in my head.

I'm obsessed with media and news. I could watch it all day.

I went into 'RuPaul's Drag Race' saying, 'I'll never cry.' Because they make fun of every queen that cries on the show. And I did cry, and I did scream, and I did have doubt, and I did have great, victorious moments.

Growing up in Iowa I could have had it a lot worse. My family was more worried about my education and my health than the fact that I wore my sister's dresses.

Drag culture has always been about excess.

Never feel guilty. Don't hold yourself back by guilt or fear. No other species in the entire world deals with guilt. Guilt is a bizarre emotion that makes you feel bad about decisions that you make.