Katya Zamolodchikova, better known as Katya, Miss Congeniality from RuPaul’s Drag Race Season 7, finalist from RuPaul’s Drag Race All-Stars Season 2 and co-star of the hit Viceland Show The Trixe and Katya Show has gone on Instagram to make a very important announcement that has left fans gasping.
Brian McCook, the artist behind Katya, went live on Instagram to share that after a lot of working, he is taking a break from drag to focus on himself and his mental health.
On RPDR, we learned that Katya had struggled with substance abuse and mental health in the past so this possibly comes at a time when he needs it the most.
I was witness to Katya’s incredible work ethic when I met the queen at a meet & greet late last year. Katya hosted an amateur drag competition where at one point she jumped on stage and did multiple drops to splits to Read U Wrote U. After all of that, Katya met and took photos with hundreds of fans until the wee hours of the night—interacting with every single one like only she knows how to do! No wonder he drinks all that Coke (the soda, not the drug).
Katya took to social media speaking only in French—as only a unique artist would.
Here is a translation of what her message had to say:
Hi, it's Katya. This is a message transmitted in French, if you're not French this is not going to make any sense to you.
In French, I'm going to talk about David Lynch, and also about my health.
There is no emergency, there is no emergency. But I needed to take a little break. It was time to take a vacation, because my health, the drugs, my brain, that wasn't good.
If you're French, this will make perfectly sense.
I speak French, but I never have the opportunity to practice speaking French because I'm always busy, I'm always working. I work a lot.
But I am not crazy, you understand of course. I'm a language student first, an artist second, a drag queen third. Health is the most important thing for me.
You have to understand me. In the future, I need to take more vacations, I'm a person, I'm a human. You need to hear me.
Right now, this is not a crisis. I'm taking a vacation for me. I need to take a vacation. The sun is there, I'm happy. My health is here, I'm happy.
I'm telling you this with a sense of urgency. I'm not dying. Let me tell you the truth. I'm not dying, I want to live. I'm a drug addict, but I'm sober. Today, and yesterday. And before. But I need to take a vacation, because I want to survive, like Gloria Gaynor.
I'm not arrogant, I'm intelligent.
I'm ok. I'm not dying because I want to live.
But I need to take vacations, like a normal person. The people who are listening will understand, can understand. And that's all I wanted to say, that's all. In French, because it's the language of knowledge. All languages are languages of knowledge, but I speak in French because I need to speak slowly to speak correctly.
I don't have a drug crisis right now, because I'm sober. I'm taking care of myself today. And that is the reason why I'm happy. But I need to choose carefully the projects that will not … you understand.
The most important is that I keep coming back.
I speak French because it's a language I understand fluently, better than Russian, Spanish, and Japanese. That's all.
In French, I need to say, I'm human. That's all. It's a joke for Americans, for French people, it's not.
I love French, I've always loved French. I learned French because I love French. Today, right now, I tell you "bonjour."
But I need to take a vacation because I'm tired, I'm exhausted, my brain doesn't work anymore, because of the drugs, because of all the gigs, I believe you understand. We'll see, and I wish you a good day. Bye bye.
Wishing Brian a lot of rest during this time off—we can’t wait to see a re-energized, re-born Katya when you’re ready!
