Hailed as “your favorite drag queen’s favorite drag queen,” Sasha Colby’s season 15 win on RuPaul’s Drag Race was in the bag from day one, but she doesn’t take her success for granted.
Coming into the season as an obvious frontrunner meant that Colby, 39, had to work that much harder to make sure she was flawless. “That was the first thought that was in my head,” she exclusively tells Us Weekly. “They could just have written it off as ‘pretty privilege’ … so I really worked hard for myself to present a package that was so tight that you couldn’t deny that I should win. It would be earned and it would be very apparent. That’s what I really was making sure to do.”
Colby’s mission was a success — so much so that rumors have circulated since her win that she’s next in line to host Drag Race after RuPaul retires. “I’ve heard the rumors,” Colby tells Us, noting that she doesn’t think Ru, 62, has any imminent plans to hang up her wigs. “I am never going to denounce the rumor. … I don’t think she’s going to stop anytime soon, but if she does and she does need me to check up on the kids, I’ll definitely come.”
While hosting Drag Race may not be in the cards, Colby says she’d “never say never” to appearing on reality TV again — especially if any producers at Dancing With the Stars come calling. “I think I would have a lot of fun with that,” she tells Us. “And I haven’t actually trained in ballroom, so it would be challenging. It would be a new challenge for me.”
Until then, she’s got plenty of other projects to keep her busy. She just announced her debut single, “Feel the Power” featuring Luciana, which drops on Friday, October 20, and her first headlining tour, Sasha Colby: Stripped, which kicks off in February 2024 (tickets go on sale Friday at TheSashaColby.com). Her line of ponytail extensions, Sasha Colby Hair, is now available and expansion plans for the brand are on the horizon. When asked whether she’s in her mogul era, Colby replies, “Pretty much. I’ve watched so many former contestants — not even the winners — just catapult into celebrity stardom and being entrepreneurs, so let’s do it.”
Colby is also excited to use her platform to speak up for the LGBTQ+ community in an era when states across the country are passing anti-trans and anti-drag bills at an alarming rate.
“When you’re doing this competition, you really have to come and think about your intention of why you’re doing it,” she says. “I wanted to win this for myself, but then to really understand what is going on in the world, to make it not be about me [made it] a little easier to finish the task. To be like, ‘This isn’t just for me. This is for all those kids that are really, really scared right now, for all those people that really don’t know what to do.’ It was for me to be strong for them and use the platform and the privilege that I have to make people uncomfortable in the sense of really looking at yourself.”
For more with the Reality Stars of the Year, pick up the new issue of Us Weekly, on stands now.
