Born and raised as George Ward in the Traveller community in Darlington, drag performer Cherry Valentine thought their life was mapped out for them. "I was going to get a job as a mechanic, get married, have kids and that would be it," the Drag Race UK star, who has died aged 28, said in an interview with the Manchester Evening News earlier this year. "I was always brought up on old-fashioned, stereotypical views of what a man or woman should be or should do," they said. "I had to identify as your typical man growing up and that meant following the society rules and expectations of being masculine.
There wasn’t ever any wiggle room." Read more: 'I was bullied for being gay at a top Greater Manchester school - one lesson changed my life' But Ward, who used they/them pronouns, chose to follow a different path.
They knew it was pretty much the only option, even if, at first, the prospect was 'terrifying' - not least because it could also see them completely ostracised from their community. "I sort of realised I needed to make the decision of whether to just do it or get away from that and move away," they said "It was really difficult because I felt really alone.
I had some really dark times. "The idea of hope got me through those dark feelings. Being able to potentially live a different life to what I was expected to be is what really kept me going through it all." Ward went to college to study psychology, literature and sciences while, unbeknownst to their family, also dabbling in the world of fashion and art.
Read more on manchestereveningnews.co.uk
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