From Broadway and Big Brother to beauty routines and Bowie-inspired glam, Frankie Grande is ready to tell his story.
In Supergay!, his new memoir, Grande revisits the many versions of himself he tried on over the years — from frat brother, to Broadway performer, to the unapologetically flamboyant star fans know today. In the excerpt ahead, he uses superheroes and secret identities to explain how he got there.
To be your best superhero, you must have an alter ego to hide behind so people can't figure out who you are. Think Bruce Wayne, Peter Parker, King T'Challa, Steve Rogers, Diana Prince, Bruce Banner, the list goes on and on. Clark Kent isn't gay (that we know of) but his secret identity is about as well-hidden as a flaming ******* . All Clark Kent does is restyle his hair and throw on grandpa glasses and ******* ody has any idea who he is. And we just lean into that even though it's absolutely ridiculous, and we can all tell that Clark Kent is Superman. Just because you parted your hair differently, we're not supposed to know that's you? OK. Cool. Whatever you say.
This Clark Kent phenomenon happens to gay people a lot. Even if you're obviously gay, people just pretend you're straight because:
They don't want to be rude by ******* uming you're gay (but guess what, it's not an insult!);
They don't want to out you (fair);
They don't give AF; or
They're super religious and are praying the gay away in their heads.