Willow Pill

Willow Patterson (born January 22, 1995), known by the stage name Willow Pill, is an American drag performer. She is best known as the winner of season 14 of RuPaul's Drag Race in 2022.

Willow Pill
Willow Pill at RuPaul's DragCon LA, 2022
Born	(1995-01-22) January 22, 1995 (age 29) Denver, Colorado, U.S.
Other names	Willow Patterson
Education	Colorado State University
Occupation	Drag queen
Television	RuPaul's Drag Race

Early life

Patterson was raised in Denver, Colorado and attended Arapahoe High School in Littleton Public Schools. Patterson later attended Colorado State University.^[1]

Career

In an interview with KGNU in 2016, Willow Pill explained her drag persona was "a mix of 41 and 14... I'm kind of obsessed with little stoner girls as well as older women, like moms, that can't catch a break."^[2] Her first performance was at a Colorado State University drag show, where she wore "a pink '90s housewife tracksuit, complete with glasses and a pearl necklace." She performed a comedy routine and danced to a mix of Missy Elliott and Gwen Stefani songs.^[3]

Willow Pill at RuPaul's DragCon LA, 2022

In 2022, Willow Pill gained wider prominence as a contestant on season 14 of RuPaul's Drag Race, where she won the main challenge on the third episode, earning a cash prize of $5,000. Her Snatch Game performance as Drew Barrymore placed her in the bottom seven,^[4] and she participated in the lip-sync tournament on episode eight.^[5] She won the first round against Bosco.^[5] She placed in the bottom a second time during episode 14, and was required to "lip sync for her life" against Angeria Paris VanMicheals. Following their performance of "Telephone" by Lady Gaga ft. Beyoncé, neither was eliminated, resulting in five contestants advancing to the finale, a first for the series.^{[citation needed]}

On the April 22, 2022, season finale, Willow Pill performed "I Hate People"^[6] and defeated Lady Camden in a lip-sync battle to Cher's version of ABBA's "Gimme! Gimme! Gimme! (A Man After Midnight)" and was declared the season's winner, earning a cash prize of $150,000, the highest amount awarded to date in a regular season so far.^[7] After being crowned the winner of season 14, Willow Pill became the second openly transgender person to win a regular season of RuPaul's Drag Race in the United States,^[8][9] and the sixth openly transgender contestant to win a season of the Drag Race franchise at the time of their crowning.^[a]

Personal life

Patterson has had cystinosis her whole life and identifies as trans femme, as one of the five transgender contestants of Season 14.^[b][10] She came out via social media: "It's taken me a long time to come to terms with my transness because so much space has been taken up by my illness," Patterson wrote in one of her posts. She uses they/she pronouns.^[11]

Filmography

Television

Year	Title	Role	Place	Ref
2022	RuPaul's Drag Race (season 14)	Contestant	Winner	[12]
	RuPaul's Drag Race: Untucked
2023	RuPaul's Drag Race (season 15)	Herself	Guest	[13]

Web series

Year	Title	Role	Notes	Ref
2021	Meet the Queens	Herself	Stand-alone special RuPaul's Drag Race Season 14	[14]
2022	Whatcha Packin'		Guest	[15]
	The Awardist			[16]
	The Pit Stop			[17]
	Folx Presents			[18]
	Meet the Queens		Host RuPaul's Drag Race Season 15	[19]
2023	Sloppy Seconds'		Guest	[20]
	Give It To Me Straight'			[21]
	Fashion Photo RuView			[22]

Music videos

Year	Title	Artist	Ref
2021	"Sick Bitch"	Yvie Oddly feat. Willow Pill	[23]
2022	"Taste So Good (The Cann Song)"	Vincint, Hayley Kiyoko, MNEK and Kesha (Weedmaps x Cann)	[24]
	"Angle"	Willow Pill feat. Kornbread Jeté	[25]

Awards and nominations

Year	Award-giving body	Category	Work	Results	Ref.
2022	MTV Movie & TV Awards	Best Reality Star	RuPaul's Drag Race	Nominated	[26]
	Critics' Choice Real TV Awards	Best Ensemble Cast in an Unscripted Series (Shared with the Season 14 cast)		Won	[27]
	People's Choice Awards	The Competition Contestant of 2022		Nominated	[28][29]
2023	Queerty Awards	Closet Door Bustdown (Shared with Bosco, Jasmine Kennedie and Kornbread Jeté)		Runner-up	[30]
		Drag Royalty	Herself	Nominated	[31]

Notes

1. The other transgender contestants to win a Drag Race season were Angele Anang, Kylie Sonique Love, Vanessa Van Cartier, and Sasha Colby, as well as Jinkx Monsoon and Trinity the Tuck, the winners of RuPaul's Drag Race (season 5) and fourth season of All Stars respectively, who came out as trans non-binary following their season victories.
2. The four other transgender contestants of season 14 were Kerri Colby, Kornbread Jeté, Bosco, and Jasmine Kennedie.

References

1. Alvarez, Alayna (2022-04-22). "Denver drag queen Willow Pill competes to win "RuPaul's Drag Race"". Axios. Archived from the original on 2022-04-23. Retrieved 2022-04-23.
2. "Outsources: A New Voice in Drag – Conversation with Will Patterson". KGNU. November 21, 2016. Archived from the original on January 23, 2022. Retrieved April 24, 2022.
3. Pinherio, Brooklyn (July 11, 2017). "Becoming a Drag Queen: behind the garters and glitter". The Plaid Zebra. Archived from the original on January 30, 2022. Retrieved April 24, 2022.
4. Ehrman-Dupre, Joe; Ehrman-Dupre, Joe (April 15, 2015). "RuPaul's Drag Race, Season 7, Episode 7: 'Snatch Game!'". Archived from the original on February 25, 2021. Retrieved April 15, 2022.
5. "It's March Madness on RuPaul's Drag Race with a LaLaPaRuZa lip sync tournament". The A.V. Club. 19 March 2022. Archived from the original on 2022-03-31. Retrieved 2022-04-15.
6. Nolfi, Joey (April 23, 2022). "'Drag Race' winner Willow Pill plans to 'get more disgusting and dirty' — and fun". Entertainment Weekly. Archived from the original on 2022-05-29. Retrieved 2022-05-29.
7. Rosario, Alexandra Del (2022-04-23). "'RuPaul's Drag Race': [SPOILER] Crowned Season 14 Winner In Milestone Finale For Franchise". Deadline. Archived from the original on 2022-04-23. Retrieved 2022-04-23.
8. Malone, Chris (May 6, 2022). "How Many Trans 'Drag Race' Winners Have There Been?". Showbiz Cheatsheet. Archived from the original on May 24, 2022. Retrieved May 25, 2022.
9. @JinkxMonsoon (March 5, 2014). "@Wolferfly I DO identify as transgendered. My gender does not fit into the box assigned to my genitalia. I lie somewhere between the lines" (Tweet) – via Twitter.
10. Dave, Quinn (April 22, 2022). "RuPaul's Drag Race Star Willow Pill Details Life with Cystinosis: 'Nothing Is Unaffected By It'". PEOPLE.com. Archived from the original on 2022-04-22. Retrieved 2022-04-23.
11. Daw, Stephen (2022-03-04). "'RuPaul's Drag Race' Star Willow Pill Comes Out as Trans Femme: 'I'm Starting to Feel Bits of Happiness'". Billboard. Archived from the original on 2022-04-27. Retrieved 2022-04-27.
12. Christopher, Rudolph. ""RuPaul's Drag Race" Season 14 Queens to Be RuVealed in VH1 Special". NewNowNext.com. Archived from the original on 2021-11-23. Retrieved 2021-11-23.
13. Ramos, Dino-Ray. "RECAP: 'RuPaul's Drag Race' Season 15 Episode 16: The Grand Finale". www.glaad.org. Archived from the original on 2021-11-23. Retrieved 2023-04-18.
14. Meet the Queens of Season 14! | RuPaul's Drag Race, December 3, 2021, archived from the original on January 15, 2022, retrieved December 14, 2022
15. Willow Pill's Whatcha Packin' | S14 TOP 5 | RuPaul's Drag Race, April 26, 2022, archived from the original on May 17, 2022, retrieved June 4, 2022
16. 'RuPaul's Drag Race' Season 14 Contestants On Most Entertaining Season Yet! | Entertainment Weekly, June 23, 2022, archived from the original on June 23, 2022, retrieved June 23, 2022
17. The Pit Stop AS7 E07 | Bob The Drag Queen & Willow Pill Win! | RuPaul's Drag Race All Stars, June 25, 2022, archived from the original on June 26, 2022, retrieved June 26, 2022
18. Season 14 Drag Race Queens On Trans Joy, August 4, 2022, archived from the original on August 5, 2022, retrieved August 5, 2022
19. MEET THE QUEENS OF SEASON 15! 🚘 | RuPaul's Drag Race 👠✨, December 13, 2022, archived from the original on January 9, 2023, retrieved December 14, 2022
20. Sloppy Seconds #308 - Shower Milk (w/ Willow Pill), January 19, 2023, archived from the original on March 5, 2023, retrieved March 5, 2023
21. WILLOW PILL - "Give It To Me Straight" Ep4 - Hosted by Maddy Morphosis, March 1, 2023, archived from the original on March 2, 2023, retrieved March 3, 2023
22. FASHION PHOTO RUVIEW - RuPaul's Drag Race Season 15 - Reunion, April 12, 2023, archived from the original on April 18, 2023, retrieved April 18, 2023
23. "Yvie Oddly - Sick Bitch (ft. Willow Pill) [Official Video]". Youtube.com. 5 March 2021. Archived from the original on June 7, 2022. Retrieved June 7, 2022.
24. ""Taste So Good" (The Cann Song) - Official Music Video | Weedmaps x Cann". Youtube.com. 31 May 2022. Archived from the original on June 1, 2022. Retrieved May 31, 2022.
25. "Willow Pill - Angle (feat. Kornbread) Official Music Video". Youtube.com. 8 June 2022. Archived from the original on June 8, 2022. Retrieved June 8, 2022.
26. MTV News (May 11, 2022). "HERE ARE YOUR 2022 MTV MOVIE & TV AWARDS NOMINATIONS: SEE THE FULL LIST". Archived from the original on May 11, 2022. Retrieved May 12, 2022.
27. Erik Pedersen (June 12, 2022). "'RuPaul's Drag Race' & 'Top Chef' Lead Critics Choice Real TV Awards". Deadline.com. Archived from the original on June 13, 2022. Retrieved June 14, 2022.
28. Schwartz, Missy (October 26, 2022). "Bad Bunny, 'Nope', Harry Styles and Lizzo Lead People's Choice Awards Nominations: Complete List". TheWrap. Archived from the original on October 27, 2022. Retrieved October 26, 2022.
29. Malec, Brett (December 7, 2022). "People's Choice Awards 2022 Winners: The Complete List". E! Online. Archived from the original on January 11, 2023. Retrieved December 7, 2022.
30. "Closet Door Bustdown Nominees". The Queerties. Archived from the original on 25 January 2023. Retrieved 25 January 2023.
31. "Drag Royalty Nominees". The Queerties. Archived from the original on 25 January 2023. Retrieved 25 January 2023.

External links

• Media related to Willow Pill at Wikimedia Commons

Awards and achievements
Preceded by Symone	Winner of RuPaul's Drag Race US season 14	Succeeded by Sasha Colby