'I Just Wanted to Shout at Bread': An Interview with Gabriella Labucci

By Piper and JJ Loveday

Gabriella Labucci once stood in a ball gown, spread condiments on a sandwich to Vivaldi’s Spring, and screamed at it. That should tell you everything about the self-proclaimed dickhead drag queen from Ballarat, Australia – and runner-up on RuPaul’s Drag Race Down Under Season 3 – except it doesn’t. 

Because for all her camp absurdity, at her core, Gabriella is about connection. Whether she’s hosting bingo at the local RSL, touring the country or yelling at baked goods, she understands the power of showing up – for audiences, for peers, and for herself. 

We could not have been happier to sit down with this gem of a human to talk candidly about the realities of full-time drag; navigating neurodivergence, sobriety, and regional bigotry; standing up for the trans community; and the simple philosophy at the heart of it all: kindness always wins. 

Gabriella Labucci is depicted floating in a beam of light from a UFO, wearing a pastel pink and lavender outfit with thigh-high boots..

So tell us, how did the glorious Gabriella Labucci come to be?  

Gabriella came to be because I used to do a lot of musical theatre. I did a lot of local amateur productions and loved it. I’ve always enjoyed performing, but with theatre there's a director telling you how to act, what to say, what to wear. You don't get any form of freedom. But the world of drag just came up on me and I went, oh shit, I can actually have the thrill of being on stage without having to follow any rules. 

I know a lot of people have a character or a persona they put on when they're in drag. I think Gabriella is more of an extension of me, in the sense that it brings out the extra confidence. But that's it, I don't really act any different in or out of drag. The cheekiness and ratbag behaviour I do in drag is how I act and behave with my friends and family. Drag is a free pass to be relentlessly me. 

What have you found to be the positives and negatives of life as a drag artist? 

The main positive of drag is freedom of expression and turning what was once a negative into a positive. In primary school and high school I was picked on quite a lot for being bit girly, a bit feminine. Being able to turn that into a career, getting paid to do a lot of stupid shit, is quite fantastic. That's probably the biggest win of all, turning pain into finance. 

But the downside is that with any sort of creative field or passion project, once you start to monetise it, it does become work. You don't necessarily lose all love for it, but there definitely are days where it's like, I don't feel like I'm doing this for me anymore. I'm doing this because I have to, not because I want to. There's definitely moments where I struggle with the balance of ‘what can I do that I want to do in drag’ versus ‘what can I do that I know the audience will enjoy so I have bums on seats so I have income’.  

People love generic crowd-pleaser songs. Pub hits, classics they can sing along with and have a feel-good time with, something that invokes that feeling of nostalgia. Nostalgia is a big selling point. My main demographic is people from their late 20s to 60s so anything from the late 90s, early 2000s, is a sweet spot for everyone. 

It's a very weird career, a very weird occupation to have, and there's so many ways you can make money doing this. The way I’ve found this is from giving the people what they want and I’ll continue to do so, but I'm just trying to find that way to squeeze a bit more meaning to it everywhere I can.  

What kind of drag do you think you would do if you didn’t have those restrictions? 

Gabriella Labucci poses in a bright orange bodysuit with blue hair, holding slices of bread, surrounded by colourful sprinkles and a comic-style speech bubble that says “Ahhh!!”.

So, I'm a very avid fan of a cabaret-style show where it's a nonsensical performance that makes no sense and you watch the performers and go, what the hell, guys, what did I just watch? A perfect example would be your local [Tasmanian] legend, Pussay Poppins. She's always doing something fucking stupid and ridiculous, and that was very much me in my early career. What's the angle? What's the schtick? What's the prop? What can I do? What's relevant? What can I turn this into? And people go, you're so fucking stupid, what are you doing?  

I love that stuff. I love the weird and the wacky. In terms of the performance, not so much the aesthetic. I like that people look at me and have one assumption and then see the performance and go, I was not expecting that! Which is why I chose the name Gabriella Labucci. I didn't want a pun in my name that would box me into a comedy genre. 

One of my favourite shows I got booked for was in an art gallery. It was showcasing queer art and they said, just do something artsy. So I stood on a podium in a floor length ball gown. I had a loaf of bread and an array of condiments. ‘Spring’ by Vivaldi was playing. So, I'm just looking beautiful, standing on this podium, spreading condiments onto this sandwich, screaming at the sandwich, taking bites, spitting it out, repeating the process and that’s the whole performance. And the arty-farty people were like, ooh yes, that’s a piece on consumerism. That’s fantastic... 

I just wanted to shout at bread. 

So, we just rewatched your season of Drag Race... 

I'm so sorry. 

How you feel about the Drag Race experience now, looking back?  

In general, I still love it, I think it's a fantastic opportunity. But I also think people put too much emphasis on what it is, in the sense that they'll get on the show and think they've made it. It’s a door that is opened, it’s not anything more than that, especially the Down Under franchise.  

I went in with the attitude of, this is going to be fantastic, I'm going to have so much fun, I'm going to make some new sisters. I’ll probably get a handful of opportunities out of this, but I’m just going to go back to what I was doing beforehand in a matter of seconds. I knew the reality, whereas I know a lot of girls go into it thinking, I can quit my job. I'm going to be touring. I'm going to be flying around the world... 

Life hasn’t really changed post-Drag Race. The only difference is now, on the very rare occasion, I'll get someone in Kmart come up to me and be like, sorry, this is really embarrassing, are you Gabriella Labucci? And I’ll say, yes I am, would you like to have a photo with me? Other than that, I'm still travelling across regional Victoria with my business partner, Sheridan, doing shows we've instigated ourselves. 

When I was auditioning for the show, I was already doing hens parties, private bookings, corporate stuff. So I thought, I'm going to apply for the show. If I get on, that's fantastic – my career goes one way. If I don't get on, that's fantastic – my career goes another way. Both are still going to be full-time drag, the hustle was already in place. 

Going in, I had the intention to be as raw and vulnerable and open about anything that was relevant to my life at that point in time. Because you never know what’s going to happen, you never know who’s watching, never know who you can help. Just being a queer person, representation is so important. Watching it back, I've always been a very harsh self-critic and Drag Race was no exception. Choices were made. But I have no regrets whatsoever. The hardest part is knowing what doesn't make the edit and hoping people will understand your vision. That's the gamble you take... 

One of the things you talked about on the show was your ADHD. Can you tell us a little bit about life pre and post diagnosis? 

Gabriella Labucci appears in a black bodysuit with high-heeled boots, posed against a hypnotic black-and-white spiral background with multiple duplicated images of herself radiating outward.

So pre-diagnosis, I actually had no clue whatsoever that I could have potentially had ADHD. I always thought it was just that kid running around the classroom screaming, not all the other stuff that’s more relevant to me. I was a massive people pleaser which I think is a very common trait in neurodivergent people. I was burning the candle at both ends because I was trying to not let anyone down. I was doing a community access television show, I was working two jobs. I had no money to my name because of the impulse spending situation, I chased the dopamine through buying stuff. 

My housemate coined the term 'screen saver mode’, because if we had a group of people over I’d be mid conversation and then stop talking, just start dancing around in the background. I was just stimming without realising it. I used to be a massive stoner as well. Every night I’d come home and bake myself silly, which makes sense. I was just trying to make my brain slow down, trying to self-medicate.  

But then you get a diagnosis and things make more sense. You start to be a bit more lenient, a bit more kind to yourself. You say, it's not my fault this is happening, it's just the way that I'm wired. You be a bit more gentle, a bit more patient. It's definitely been a game changer, getting a diagnosis and getting medication as well. When I first started taking my medication – this is going to be absolutely mind-blowing – I made breakfast and I did the dishes straight after. I cried my little eyes out washing those dishes, cleaning up after myself, which I intended to do every single day and never did because I got distracted looking at TikTok or Instagram and now I'm five minutes late for work and I need to get out the door. Suddenly I'm better with time management. I can do the task I had every intention of doing. I'm able to prioritise things in a certain order. You find the ways to work with yourself, once you have that clarity inside your brain... 

How old were you when you got diagnosed? 

30. I had five months or so [before filming Drag Race] where I’d seen this drastic impact like, holy shit, I'm not living my life on hard mode anymore. Which is why I decided to go in and be so fucking vocal about it. I talked about it every single day on set and it didn't get any mention until the last episode. It’s why I blatantly wrote the lyrics that I essentially wanted to kill myself so they wouldn’t have any choice but to use what I wanted to talk about. 

And it’s funny, you can very quickly spot it in others. You see the similar traits and you can’t help yourself but go, just so you’re aware, I also have these traits. Have you ever considered...? And you get to be the person who opens the door for that person. That's how we ended up pursuing a diagnosis for me, because we had another friend who was taking Ritalin. I've been no stranger to putting foreign substances in my body, so I was like, hey, why not. And I will never forget the first time I took it. We were in a group setting so I didn’t really notice until I'd gone to the bathroom and it was quiet. It was quiet for the first time in my life. It was quiet, like, oh my god, I can clearly hear this one train of thought, just one thing. What the fuck is going on? Mental. Absolutely mental. 

What is your relationship with drugs like now? 

Three years drug and cigarette free. I stopped the harder substances, your MDMA, your cocaine, before I stopped smoking weed. But once I stopped smoking cigarettes, I stopped smoking everything. The reason I wanted to stop was because there were so many times I'd done what I thought was a high energy performance and I would get off the stage gasping for air. Whereas now I can go and perform my little heart out. 

Pre-medication, when I was out doing gigs, I definitely drank a lot more than I do now and I was very stupid about it. Driving home like a fucking idiot because all these country roads are kangaroo infested, it's honestly a miracle that I haven't had an actual death. Nowadays, I might have one or two drinks if I’m not driving, I couldn’t tell you the last time I got drunk... 

Being a regional queen, how do you deal with copping hate and judgement about drag from certain demographics? 

Being in the regional towns, negativity is rife. But I don't get upset by any of the hate because anything they're going to throw at me is so much more tame than everything I used to say to myself. Like, you can't hurt me with your words. 

We have to advertise on things like Facebook community noticeboards, because how else do you reach a regional market? We get a lot of hate but we interact with all of them because they're all engagement, it just keeps pushing us out even further. I just don't understand why these people think I haven't heard it all before. They're really big on saying that we're grooming children, that we’re paedophiles. And I say, what part of being at a fucking Leagues club or an RSL suggest child friendly to you? There are pokies. There is alcohol. Do you let your children gamble and drink?  

It's surprising, you know, the stupidity that comes our way. But it’s the ‘Trump’ of it all, need I say more. I just don't understand why people have adopted American politics as if it's something that affects Australia. And the ‘definition of a woman’ [by the UK Supreme Court] too. It’s really fucking heartbreaking.  

We definitely need to protect our trans community and show up, because they’ve shown up for everyone else. I'm definitely actively vocal about J.K. Rowling as well. She’s a nightmare. It just doesn’t make sense, how you can hate people just for existing and not even being part of your world. I love seeing so many queer tattoo artists saying, if you've got a Harry Potter tattoo, come and cover it up for free. It’s beautiful.  

Were you a Harry Potter fan? 

Oh yeah. As a kid, I was obsessed. So obsessed I was one of those millennials who had the deathly hallows tattoos. Pre-Drag Race I went and got it covered up. I did not want any shot of that fucking symbol on me, on TV. I don't want anyone to think that I am, in any way, agreeing with that transphobic piece of shit.  

I have this conversation with a lot of queer people and I say, you're allowed to have that fondness, that memory of all the [Harry Potter] stuff. You just can't continue to support this woman. You've already got the DVD? Watch it. Enjoy it. Because she's not going to make any more money from that. If you're watching it on a streaming service, that's problematic. 

We have a friend who was an avid Harry Potter fan and collected memorabilia. We teased her a little and she did take it to heart, saying, I can’t enjoy it anymore. You’ve ruined it for me. And we’re like, no, we didn't ruin it for you, darling. J.K. Rowling ruined it.  

Wrapping up, what would your advice be for someone thinking of starting drag? 

Gabriella Labucci is depicted in a colourful crochet outfit with a flower headpiece, standing on a vinyl record as if being played on a turntable.

That's a great question. Number one would be, Drag Race is not the be-all and end-all of drag, you don't have to emulate what you see on TV. The second thing would be, drag family is not the be-all and end-all of drag. You don't need a drag mother. You don't need drag sisters. Not having a drag family means you're forced to really figure out what your persona is going to be, what drag is to you. If you've got a drag mother, a drag sibling, they can often be like, this is how we do our cut crease, this is how we do our padding, this is how we do our hair.  

‘Fuck around and find out’ is the best method. There are so many tutorials and resources these days that you should be able to figure out what you want to do just by looking at a few examples, picking the parts you like from different resources. And once you start, you can be the flame for all the other moths to come to... 

And take the time to talk to your audience. If they want to talk to you, talk to them. Without them, you don’t have a fucking job. I know it seems like such a logical thing but there are so many queens who are like, oh my god, this person is yapping my ear off, I just want to go home. But how do you pay for that home? You need to respect where your money's coming from, because if you don't, you don't get it. 

You don't know what kind of impact you're having on people's lives just by having a simple conversation. I definitely get the occasional trauma dump but I will always be there to hear people out, let them get it off their chest if they need to. There was an example at a bingo event I hosted in Bendigo. This woman came up to me and said, this is the first night out we've had since our son killed himself and we've had such a good time, we haven't laughed like this in years, so thank you so much.  

You just don't know, from the stupid nonsense you put on that stage, you just don't know what joy, what emotion, almost therapy, you can be giving these people. It might not be a big deal to you, but it could be such a big deal to someone else to have that interaction. People just want to feel seen and validated. 

I always find myself saying to people, ‘Be kind to yourself’. I know it's important to be kind to others, you can people please, but remember you are people too. Kindness is definitely the most important thing and you are also worthy of that kindness. The world can be a very ugly place in terms of the hatred that gets thrown towards us. Try not to let that bother you because there is so much more love that outweighs the hate. And there always will be, it's just a matter of finding the right people and the right place. 

This interview has been edited for length and clarity. 

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