Quotes About Identity

Drag is more like a license to be what you want. But you don't need drag to do that.

If I was to say I had a life, that would be a lie.

Growing up black, you are lied to and told to act in a way that isn't who you are.

There are elements of myself in every character I do, just because you take from your real life experiences and sprinkle those into your character.

I am who I am: I have my life experiences and my professional experiences.

Away from football, life is not just football. People do not see it how life goes on for us off the field.

The thing is, with me, my life is a catwalk.

For me, in some ways, my whole life is a bit performative and always has been - because I'm stared at and looked at everywhere I go.

It's very difficult to hand someone your whole life story to play, and you've never really met that person.

My lifestyle is probably not quite what people would expect it to be.

I'd love them to have adorable little American accents, but I do want to bring my kids up in Australia; it's such a good lifestyle.

One should go to the line through the character. You should see their lifestyle in the way they speak.

The things that are going to be in all my records, for as long as I'm making them, are going to go back to who I am and where I'm from and the lifestyle that I live and come from - and I don't know how I could ever get any of that close enough to pop to be considered a pop act.

All I needed was the courage to be me. That courage took a lifetime to develop.

I will not have my face lifted.

Listen, it's crazy because I almost have to work twice as hard to get the amount of attention as it is for somebody who's a little lighter than me or from a different country than me, you know?

In my country - even though we have a lot of dark-skinned people - people think the lighter you are, the better you are. They think beauty has to do with being light-skinned. I think that's really wrong.

In real life, I'm far more lighthearted than I come across on the records.

I want to be the physical embodiment of light, you know? And I feel like now people know, when they see the lights go off and this light-up figure appear on stage, they know that's Mustafa Ali.

I was lightweight - that was the whole point of me.

I could see myself going to lightweight, but I love welterweight.

I always felt weird. I don't feel particularly likeable.

I don't want to be liked by everyone.

I don't think I found out what I liked to wear until I was, like, 18.