Lorraine Kelly has transformed into her drag queen alter-ego on the cover of Attitude magazine.
The January issue of the publication, titled “The Activists and Allies Issue”, features a variety of inspirational people who have demonstrated their enduring support for the LGBT+ community, including Kelly and lead singer of The 1975Matty Healy.
For her cover on the LGBT+ magazine, Kelly has dressed from head to toe as drag queen “Morning Gloria”, complete with a Queen of Hearts-esque ginger wig, scarlet gown, tartan sash and, of course, a crown.
The television presenter spoke to Attitude about why she decided to dress up in drag and feeling obligated to call out injustice throughout her career.
The talk show host explained that transforming into a drag queen means becoming “a supercharged version of yourself”, which she finds “empowering” to show off.
“It’s like the really naughty rebel, which I was in my teenage years, came out to play,” Kelly said.
“And I never thought with the size of my bottom that I’d need padding but it was amazing how it really accentuated my figure!”
The 60-year-old stated that she believes in some respects, society is “going backwards”, speaking about how HIV was “really misunderstood” during the early stages of her career.
“What’s going on with trans people now is kind of what the gay community went through years ago, so one would like to hope that it will get better. I think it will, I’m the eternal optimist,” Kelly said.
The television presenter added that people should speak out about social injustice regardless of their political point of view.
“You’ve got people like Esther McVey and Ann Widdecombe with their stance on the whole LGBTQ community, which is wrong,” she said.
“I don’t find that political, I just find that this is either right, or it isn’t. My point of view is that if something’s unjust, or not right, you should call it.”
The January issue of Attitude magazine also features an interview conducted between model and activist Munroe Bergdorf, performance artist Scottee, The Great British Bake Off winner David Atherton and several others.
Healy spoke about how he chooses not to speak “explicitly” about his sexuality and about the time when he unfurled a 30-foot Pride flag during a concert in Dubai.
“The security, police, whatever, have a feed of every camera and apparently what happened was, boom, the Pride flag comes up, every officer runs backstage and says they need to take me off stage and arrest me,” he stated.
The musician added that he “grew up in the gay community”.
“When I look back, these are really formative experiences fo people because it’s what you identify as ‘normal’,” he said.
Attitude's January 'Activists & Allies' issue is out now.
