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Drag Race stars Willow Pill and Kornbread clarify that they're not 'quitting drag' any time soon

"When I say I'm weaning away from drag [I mean] bars and clubs," Kornbread tells EW, while Willow says there's "a desire to phase out of drag" longer-term, but not immediately.

By

Joey Nolfi

Published on June 23, 2022 06:00PM EDT

RuPaul's Drag Race stars Willow Pill and Kornbread aren't going anywhere just yet.

Clarifying their recent comments about potentially phasing out of drag in the future, the season 14 breakouts tell EW in our exclusive Awardist roundtable (above) that they don't have immediate plans to take a step back from the spotlight, but rather the bar-and-club circuit frequented by drag performers.

"I make a lot of money from drag right now, so I'll stick around for a little bit," says Willow, who won season 14 in April and shares she's currently working on securing acting gigs as well as writing a few series. "There is kind of a desire to phase out of drag. I've done drag for a while now and it's loads of fun, a great way to get out my creative energy, but, you know, I'm tired. Really tired. I'd like to get to a place where I'm doing it less and less until eventually I'm just gardening mushrooms."

Kornbread, who exited season 14 early due to an ankle injury, adds that "the wording of everything has been off" when it comes to reporting on her past comments about eyeing a break from drag.

RuPaul's Drag Race — 'Drag Race' stars Willow Pill and Kornbread clarify whether or not they're really quitting drag. Entertainment Weekly

"Drag is always going to be part of my life. When I say I'm weaning away from drag [I mean] bars and clubs," she stresses. "People think your life stops after Drag Race, you've made it; no, it's your job to keep going. My trajectory in life is, I made the money from it, what I need to do is now I can afford the surgeries I want to get in my transition, and once I look like how I want to look like, I can go to auditions for more film stuff, I want to be in musicals, I want to be on Broadway, there are things I want to do, and I think telling people you want to take a step back from drag gets confused in their mind. It's not me saying I'm quitting drag."

The trans queen — who, alongside Willow, Kerri Colby, Bosco, and Jasmine Kennedie, occupied part of the largest group of trans contestants to ever compete on Drag Race at one time — adds that traveling to do non-stop gigs at bars and clubs is "draining" and not where her "spirit wants to be" years in the future.

"When I say I'm stepping back, 100 percent, if opportunities arise, of course I'll do it, but at the same time, surgeries and healing stuff takes time, and you need to take a step back from drag to support Demoria. If there's no Demoria, there's no drag. If there's no Demoria, there's no Kornbread, if Demoria's not happy, I'm not about to pretend to be happy for all of ya'll. I suck at hiding my emotions," she admits. "So I need to go fix this up under all of this before I can present something to you. How are you going to be representation and lying to yourself?"

Watch the queens discuss the best moments from season 14 in our full Awardist roundtable with the cast above.

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