Jan, From Season 12 of ‘RuPaul’s Drag Race,’ Is the Drag Daughter of Season 9’s Alexis Michelle. Is Anyone Surprised?
She’s so much more than the girl from next door. She’s just Jan — the New York City-based queen competing on RuPaul’s Drag Race season 12. Turns out, there was another member of her drag family that competed on this series on season 9. Here’s what we know about Alexis Michelle’s drag family, including her daughter, Jan.
Jan is a contestant on season 12 of ‘RuPaul’s Drag Race’
With some episodes of season 12 already available for binge-watching, one of the standouts of this season is 26-year-old Jan. She used to have another name, the name of a backpack if you know what she’s saying. But we’re not going to do that!
Since appearing on RuPaul’s reality series, she goes by just Jan. There, she’s showcased her love for The Brady Bunch, musical theater, and everything in between.
“I think that from the outside, some people see me as a queen who just paints a pretty mug, wants to look as femme as possible, and that’s all there is to it. But I like to say ‘so much more’ because, on the inside, I’m crazy, and I’m not afraid to be that pretty girl who gets ugly, makes silly faces and gets irreverent,” Jan said during an interview with NBC News.
“I’m also not afraid to do spookier things, and flip the script with alternative drag,” she continued. “I have another side of me that’s yearning to get out. In the comedy mixes I do in New York, I roll around the ground, I run outside onto the street into incoming traffic, stop the taxis, do a cartwheel, and then run back into the venue. I love to do what’s unexpected.”
Before she was ‘Just Jan,’ she was a New York City queen with a love for theatre
Although Jan is originally from New Jersey, she first found her sea legs as a performer in New York City, when she did became known for her impression of Keeping Up With the Kardashian’s Kris Jenner. According to an interview with App, she combined this character with Les Miserables’ “I Dreamed a Dream” and a star was born.
“I never looked back,” Jan said. “And I try to incorporate elements of that, creating a story and an arc through my numbers each and every time I create something new. It’s not strung together without trying to display a narrative.”
Another drag performer known for her Kris Jenner is the Broadway diva herself, Alexis Michelle. Alexis Michelle, as part of the top five from RuPaul’s Drag Race season 9, is also a New York City-based queen. (She even wrote a song along with her New York sisters and fellow Drag Race competitors, Aja, Sasha Velour, and Peppermint.)
Alexis Michelle is Jan’s drag mother
It shouldn’t be a surprise to Drag Race fans that Jan is Alexis Michelle’s daughter, especially because of their love for theater. During Jan’s first challenge of the series, she shared her love for Chicago and other Broadway productions. (She didn’t win the challenge that week but got fairly close.)
Dahlia Sin is another drag daughter from this series, hailing from the Haus of Aja. In the past, famous drag families found success on Drag Race, including season 4 winner Sharon Needles and her daughter, season 10 winner Aquaria. Bob the Drag Queen’s daughter, Miz Cracker, competed on 10.
New episodes of RuPaul’s Drag Race premiere on VH1 on a weekly basis. In the meantime, fans can watch already released episodes of this reality series on VH1.com.
