Why Drag Race icon Michelle Visage is urging people to advocate for their health

‘It's not narcissistic, it's necessary’

• In this article:

• Michell Visage opens up about Hashimoto's disease and breast explant surgery

• How overhauling her diet and exercise has saved her life

• What to expect on this season of Drag Race Down under

After overhauling her health and fitness routine in her fifties, TV personality Michelle Visage’s battle with Hashimoto’s disease has never been more under control than now. 

Known for her extensive career as a singer, actress and TV personality, Michelle Visage has lent her showbiz expertise and fierce confidence to RuPaul’s Drag Race franchise since 2011.  

With season 4 of Drag Race Down Under set to premiere on November 1st, Aussie fans are excited to see longtime judge Michelle Visage take over the renowned role of series host. 

But behind the glitz and glam of her career, the New Jersey native has spent decades battling Hashimoto’s disease, initially finding little support from doctors who insisted overhauling her health to manage symptoms simply wasn’t achievable at her age. 

Sitting down with Body+Soul, Visage dishes on all things health and wellness, from how she manages her Hashimoto’s disease today to why removing her breast implants was ‘the best decision’ she’s ever made, and what to expect in the upcoming new season of Drag Race Down Under. 

Michelle Visage’s journey with Hashimoto’s disease

Diagnosed with Hashimoto’s disease in the 1990s, Visage says she was originally told by doctors that she’d be dependent on thyroid-regulating medication for the rest of her life. As she approached menopause, she was told to expect rapid weight gain, a symptom of both her condition and her age. 

“Thyroid runs everything in your body. So if it's too fast, your heart is beating irregularly. If it's too slow, the brain fog, the hair loss, the skin,” she says. “But there's so many things that you can do to help reverse Hashimoto's.”

“Gluten is the main problem for people with autoimmune, especially Hashimoto's,” she says. “It's a gut-thyroid-brain axis – all three are connected. If you don't heal your gut, you will not heal your thyroid.”

Though still taking on the advice of medical professionals, Visage set out to manage the symptoms of the disease through her lifestyle, overhauling her diet, fitness routine and outlook on wellness.  

Visage set out to manage the symptoms of the disease through her lifestyle, overhauling her diet, fitness routine and outlook on wellness. Image: Instagram/@michellevisage

While her health has always been a priority since her Hashimoto diagnosis, Visage’s passion for fitness only began a few years ago. Told to accept her fate as a menopausal woman, with doctors warning her to expect rapid weight gain and loss of skin elasticity and energy, Visage decided to test her menopausal body’s supposed ‘limitations’.  

“You have to be your own advocate. Nobody's going to do it for you,” she says. “So I thought, ‘Okay, well, if I can't lose it, I'm going to try anyway’.”

Initially, Visage began working out at home, using short YouTube tutorials to kickstart her exercise routine. Today, Visage’s workout schedule is as packed as can be, with the mother of two embracing all kinds of strength-building movement, from weight training to Barre classes and Yoga. 

“Every day my husband and I walk three and a half miles – it's our together time, then I usually weight train or I'll take a dance class or go to bar class,” Visage shares. “I just feel better now. I like being able to shut everybody up.” 

Removing her breast implants was a significant – yet necessary – step in her health transformation. Image: Instagram/@michellevisage

Behind her decision to remove her breast implants

Having had breast implants since 21 years old, Visage shares that her decision to undergo explant surgery in 2019 was a significant – yet necessary – step in her health transformation. 

Attributing a series of health concerns – including her Hashimoto’s diagnosis – to her first implants, Visage says that while the explant recovery was gruelling, it was the best decision she’s ever made for her health. 

“My numbers have consistently gone down since the implants were out and since I changed my whole way of living,” she says. “So I'm on the lowest dose of compounded thyroid medication I’ve been on in 25 years.”

“I had 30 years with them. I loved them. So I would never yuck somebody’s yum. If they want them, get them – just know what you're putting in your body,” adds the Drag Race host. 

What to expect on Drag Race Down Under season 4

Always an advocate for self-expression and pride, Visage is ecstatic to be hosting this season of Drag Race Down Under, sharing with Body+Soul that this year’s lineup of queens may be the series’ most entertaining yet. 

“Down under, queens are just very special – and we're including New Zealand in there as well –, It's just the sense of pride, the sense of humour, they're so funny and so witty and so clever and they're just in on the joke,” she says. 

As for her biggest tip for finding confidence and self-belief? It’s surprisingly simple. 

“A lot of time we don't believe it or we don't feel it or we're nervous or there's imposter syndrome and anxiety,” she says. “But if you fake it till you make it, you'll start to believe it. The more you do it on the outside, the inside will follow.”

“You have to be your biggest advocate and you have to be your biggest fan,” she adds. “It's not narcissistic it's necessary.”

Catch Michelle Visage on the newest season of Drag Race Down Under on November 1st on Stan.

Originally published as Why Drag Race icon Michelle Visage is urging people to advocate for their health