Rest in Peace Chilli Pepper
Legendary Chicago Performer, Self-Proclaimed “Bionic Woman” Chili Pepper has passed away.
Legendary LGBTQ+ advocate and “female impersonator” Chilli Pepper died in her Chicago home
on September 11, her friends confirmed this week. True to the spirit of secrecy she maintained throughout her life, her age was unreported. Pepper passed away peacefully after a strenuous battle with stage four cancer, according to Jim Flint, owner of iconic drag revue club The Baton, where Pepper performed for nearly four decades as part of the longest-running drag show in the U.S. “She thought it was clearing up, but a couple of weeks ago, she told me the doctors found a recurrence. It spread farther than expected,” Flint told.
Pepper is considered a transgender and drag icon to many, though she eschewed those labels herself, preferring to call her work “female impersonation” (as mid-1900s drag revues were termed) and her onstage persona her “cartoon.” She was notoriously secretive about her age and early life, as Vice noted during a 2018 interview, but came to Chicago from Santiago, Chile as a teenager to win her first impersonation contest.
Pepper went on to become a local celebrity in the 1970s for her performances at the Baton. In 1974, she was crowned Miss Gay Chicago and in 1980 she won the first-ever Miss Continental drag pageant — now a revered honor in the world of female impersonation with alumni like Sasha Colby, Brooke Lynn Hytes, Jazell Barbie Royale, and Candice Cayne. She appeared regularly in local media, as well as nationally-syndicated talk shows like The Oprah Winfrey Show — on which she legendarily called herself a “bionic woman” — , Donahue Show (the eponymous host of which also passed away last month) and the Joan Rivers show.
“She was famous at a time when TransWomen weren’t supposed to be famous,” wrote actress Alexandra Billings on Facebook this week. “Before RuPaul. Before Divine. Before any of us understood what a transsexual was, Chilli was exploring the possibility of it all.” Pepper was originally offered a role in Charles Busch’s satirical play Vampire Lesbians of Sodom, but turned it down so that Billings could audition, the Transparent actress recalled — a kindness that helped launch her acting career. “I absolutely believe without hesitation that my career would not have been remarkably close to what it has been, without Chilli Pepper and her guidance,” Billings wrote. That notoriety also led Pepper to become involved in the early fight against HIV/AIDS.
“You were seeing people who were dying, and a lot of people weren’t doing anything because they didn’t understand what was happening,” Pepper said during a Windy City Times interview in 2013. “I was blessed by having lots of media exposure. […] if you don’t say it, nobody else is going to say it.”
When opening the Chicago location for Barneys New York in 1993, fashion designer Donna Karan specifically hired Pepper to model as a “mannequin” in the main display at the store’s launch party and made the event into a benefit for the Design Industries Foundation Fighting AIDS (DIFFA), according to Pepper’s profile in the Chicago Hall of Fame.
“Chilli stood as a symbol of strength, unapologetically herself, embodying the belief that diversity must be
celebrated and understood,” wrote representatives for GLAAD in a memorial to Pepper on Thursday. “She has inspired generations with her fierce spirit, reminding us all that authenticity is the greatest form of activism. Rest in power, Chilli Pepper. You will forever remain an icon of resilience and pride for the trans community and beyond.”
Chili Pepper the very first Miss Continental performing at Miss Kentucky Continental 1997:
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