RuPaul Charles is officially working on a sequel to his New York Times best-selling memoir, The House of Hidden Meanings, published in 2024.
The news was dropped matter-of-factly in an episode of the We’re Knot Done Yet podcast co-hosted by Donna Mills and Michele Lee.
During a spirited discussion about human beings going through their own versions of a hero’s journey, RuPaul reflects on the importance of “knowing thyself,” and how “starting the work earlier, rather than later, gives you more pliability, more flexibility.”
Mills asks, “Do you talk about any of this stuff in your memoir?”
“I do,” RuPaul replies. “Listen, this is the only conversation in town. All roads lead to this conversation.”
Mills says she loves The House of Hidden Meanings as the memoir’s title because it reflects everything that RuPaul enjoys talking about.
“It’s everything that I’m interested in. I’m actually working on the sequel to that book right now,” RuPaul remarks. “I don’t know what the title will be. But, you know, like I said, this is the conversation everyone needs to have.”
What will RuPaul’s memoir sequel be about?
RuPaul’s 2024 memoir The House of Hidden Meanings ends abruptly as he and his partner, Georges LeBar, start their journeys toward sobriety. In other words, the book covers the first 40 years of RuPaul’s life, who turns 66 in a few days.
Mills points out in the interview, “I love that you’re having a sequel of a memoir.”
“Well, see, this book, The House of Hidden Meanings, goes up to the point when I got sober, which was 27 years ago,” RuPaul explains. “And that’s where the book cuts off.”
He goes on, “I pretty much left the business. I had semi-retired when I got sober. I took about four years off from working. I worked, but I didn’t pursue work, you know? I’ve always been ambitious. I worked for the jobs that came to me, but I didn’t pursue them.”
“For about four years, I had barbecues, and afternoon house parties, and charades parties… all sober,” RuPaul adds. “And then, in ‘04, I decided to really get back into [show business]. I was offered a job doing morning drive radio in New York, which I had done before in the ‘90s.”
RuPaul recalls, “They came to me and said, ‘Do you want to do this?’ I said, ‘Sure.’ And that started me back on the path that I’m on now.”
“So this book will pick up from where the last book left off,” he concluded.
RuPaul’s full interview on We’re Knot Done Yet is streaming on YouTube. His memoir, The House of Hidden Meanings, is available everywhere books are sold.