Transcript :

For me when I go out and perform as Charmagne. I consider everybody I meet fans. Not like I’m going out and being like, like me, like me like me. I am a little bit. But I’m just also like I want to give them a reason to like me in a way of being like nice.

I get paid nothing. I am an a- ma- teur. But once you get your own show. The going rate is about three hundred bucks.

At one point in my life I would look at drag or look at performing people and see them transform themselves into confident and self aware people.
(lyrics cut in here) And just be like I want that.

When I’m Charmagne, people will say whatever they want. Sometimes people will just come up to you and be so open and honest. Whether it’s just like oh I had a bad day or my cat died and just being there is a way to get people to just feel good about themselves.

This one time I was like sitting next to David my boyfriend and this guy, he’s like you so pretty. He buys me a drink and he’s like, I hope you’re boyfriend doesn’t mind. And I’m like. No he doesn’t mind. He’s right over there.

Before I started doing drag, David and I sat down and talked about it. If you don’t have support at home it’s not going to be fun. He understood that two years down the line
(How do I look? )
I’m not going to come home with big old fake titties.
(Oh my goodness. You look great!)
And I think that was what his concern was. He just wanted to make sure that when the drag comes off, the drag comes off.

I literally decided I was going to do drag and like a month later David got diagnosed with Hodgkins Lymphoma. I mean this is life. We all go through rough times one time or another. My mom actually has multiple sclerosis. I got to watch her go from walking to assisted walking with those like arm crutches, then to a wheel chair you know like a wheel chair on occasion and then to complete wheel chair at all times. I understand what it’s like to be in a difficult situation that sometimes may not be going away.

Cancer I, we knew it was going to go away. We knew there was an end to it. We just had to get to that end. I actually stopped working to go to David’s appointments with him.

There would be moments where he couldn’t do it anymore. And he didn’t want to do it anymore. And he was just like I can’t do it. And I’m just like pshh yes you can, you don’t have a choice.

So we’re coming up on his like first scan. Which after stem cell we’re not worried about it. It’s definitely going to be clear.
I could have performed and gone out as Charmagne and told anybody who would listen about David going, going through cancer. Um, but I didn’t do that. I told a couple of people and they would just give me words of support like, if you ever need anything I am here for you. You know like that was all I needed.

more info:

When Kevin McIntyre, 34, an actor living in Queens, told his boyfriend of 18 months, he wanted to perform in drag, David Fisk gave his blessing. He accompanied Kevin, a.k.a. Charmagne Aultra, to the clubs where he performed, serving as his de facto bodyguard. David watched as Charmagne wearing only a bra, shorts and heels—as well as four pounds of foundation —danced, lip synched on stage and flirted with strangers. Then David got cancer.

To say his boyfriend’s illness was a roadblock to Kevin’s career sounds callous, but it’s also inaccurate. Instead of giving cancer the weight and importance that most people associate with the disease, Kevin saw it as a pebble in his shoe. Cancer was something that needed simply to be dug out and dismissed. Initially, Kevin kept up his weekly drag performances at the Barricuda in Manhattan. He needed the break from the hospital routine to revive him.

Kevin, who can see the bright side of almost any situation, recalls days at the hospital that were actually fun! He and David played board games, watched TV and he shared the gossip from the “girls” at the club. And on David’s worst days Kevin knew how to “turn it off” and just be present, something he learned from listening to customers at the club. Those customers and David needed Kevin’s big, big heart and he was ready to share it.