Supermodel Linda Evangelista has never appeared on RuPaul’s Drag Race, but she’s still a big part of one of the reality show’s most iconic moments.
Back in Season 9 of the drag competition show, contestants Aja and Valentina got into it backstage during Untucked, where Aja delivered a much-memed speech poking fun at the judges’ over-the-top praise for Valentina.
“You’re perfect, you’re beautiful, you look like Linda Evangelista, you’re a model,” began Aja’s infamous rant. “Everything about you is perfect. Did you stone those tights? Oh, you’re smiling! They eat her up every single time she’s on that damn stage. She could walk out there in a f*cking diaper, and they’re like, ‘Valentina, your smile is beautiful!’”
The moment forever changed the collective gay world’s vocabulary — and in a new red carpet interview, Evangelista herself confirmed that it changed her life, too.
“Oh my god, I have a recording of that!” Evangelista told Etalk of the Drag Race clip. “That is heaven, and it’s on T-shirts! I mean, you know you’ve made it when something like that happens to you.”
There you have it, from Evangelista herself. Despite being on more than 700 magazine covers, having a star on Canada’s Walk of Fame, and receiving VH1’s Fashion Awards Lifetime Achievement Award from Anna Wintour herself, it was this Drag Race moment that let Evangelista know she’d truly “made it.”
The queens involved haven’t directly responded to Evangelista’s comment, but Aja did repost the clip to her page on X (formerly Twitter).
Meanwhile, Drag Race fans are celebrating the-full circle moment. “Her finally acknowledging it has that good particular scratch in the part of my brain that has pop culture references,” wrote one commenter on TikTok.
“I never realized I needed this. I’m so happy five years later. She talked about it,” echoed another.
“Omg she’s beautiful,” commented a third. “She looks like Valentina.”
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