The House of Hidden Meanings

A Memoir

By: RuPaul

Narrated by: RuPaul

Length: 7 hrs and 6 mins

Publisher's summary

From international drag superstar and pop culture icon RuPaul, comes his most revealing and personal work to date—a brutally honest, surprisingly poignant, and deeply intimate memoir of growing up Black, poor, and queer in a broken home to discovering the power of performance, found family, and self-acceptance.

A profound introspection of his life, relationships, and identity, The House of Hidden Meanings is a self-portrait of the legendary icon on the road to global fame and changing the way the world thinks about drag.

Central to RuPaul’s success has been his chameleonic adaptability. From drag icon to powerhouse producer of one of the world’s largest television franchises, RuPaul’s ever-shifting nature has always been part of his brand as both supermodel and super mogul.

Yet that adaptability has made him enigmatic to the public. In this memoir, his most intimate and detailed book yet, RuPaul makes himself truly known.

Stripping away all artifice, RuPaul recounts the story of his life with breath taking clarity and tenderness, bringing his signature wisdom and wit to his own biography. From his early years growing up as a queer Black kid in San Diego navigating complex relationships with his absent father and temperamental mother, to forging an identity in the punk and drag scenes of Atlanta and New York, to finding enduring love with his husband Georges LeBar and self-acceptance in sobriety, RuPaul excavates his own biography, uncovering new truths and insights in his personal history.

Here in RuPaul’s singular and extraordinary story is a manual for living—a personal philosophy that testifies to the value of chosen family, the importance of harnessing what makes you different, and the transformational power of facing yourself fearlessly.

If we’re all born naked and the rest is drag, then this is RuPaul totally out of drag. This is RuPaul stripped bare.

©2024 RuPaul Charles (P)2024 HarperCollins Publishers Limited

The reflective narrative

This book was everything I believed it would be. Rupaul got me through 2020 which was my rock bottom. Now as I am fully awake listening to this I understood it all. It made me reflect on my own life at times and I got choked up in parts listening. The story was so honest. The understanding and compassion for flawed parents and people that weaved in and out of his life. Looking back at your life you see the tapestry of what every relationship and experience built. This is a beautiful tapestry. Thank you Mama Ru

Amazing

a truly heartbreaking and inspiring tale of life, love and dreams. How wonderful to get such a raw and meaningful story told by who lived it. I always admired Ru but now I feel connected to him and his legacy more than ever. What an amazing book.

Tea “Truth”

There is so much truth in these pages that one cannot, even for a second – think that RuPaul held anything back. This truthful, insightful, Love filled account of his life is a joy to listen to. What a gem we have in RuPaul.

The creation of the mythical creature

This is real. A person that usually does not show up, the real Rupaul and how he became the mega star she is today. Left me with hunger for more. Very well written and narrated.