January 2019 GBB Featured Interview—Jake Dupree

You’re probably asking yourself, “Where the hell have I seen this blonde bombshell before?” Let me give you a couple of hints; glitter, sassy, & mythical. Give up? Jake Dupree is none other than Cosmopolitan’s fabulous Glitter Fantasy. Jake though, is much more than the sassy unicorn we’ve come to love and adore.

Allister Dean: Glitter Fantasy. How did you come up with that character?

Jake Dupree: Well, it was a collaboration between myself and Cosmopolitan. They were looking for a unicorn correspondent, and a good friend of mine asked me if I wanted to do that. We didn’t know going in what the character was going to be like; they allowed me to play and what we got was what we got. It was really fun just to be this sassy ridiculous version of myself. It was just awesome to make people laugh. It was kind like “say it” meets “luck” meets “bullshit.”

AD: Did you have any idea Glitter Fantasy would have blown up the way it did?

JD: No! Certainly not! I mean, when we did the first video of it, we always visioned it to be this one-time thing, and it turned it to this whole thing. We were just like, “let’s go with it.” It was awesome, still cannot believe that it happened. It was great.

AD: You have a twin brother, has anybody ever come up to him thinking he was glitter fantasy?

JD: It actually happens to him a lot. He’s also gay, and when he goes out people will ask, “Are you the unicorn?” He would go, “No, but your not far off.” It was really funny; he used to live in Tulsa, Ok last year and now he lives in Austin, Tx—I flew in there for Christmas and drove back to Arkansas together, people were coming up to me while in this bar asking, “Are you the unicorn?” It was just so weird and amazing at the same time.

AD: Besides becoming a unicorn, how did feel becoming a merman?

JD: I will say I love unicorns, but, mermaids have always been my favorite thing and have loved them since I was a little kid. I have them in my apartment—tasteful amounts of mermaids. A good friend of mine bought me for my birthday mermaid school a few years ago, and I was like this is the best news that’s ever happened to me. Showing up, it’s me and seven-year-old girls in this pool along with these amazing women teaching how to swim like a mermaid. There are all these games and silly stuff, but after I got done with that mermaid school, the woman who runs the company asked me if I was a professional swimmer and I was like noooo, this is the moment I have been waiting for my entire life. So, its just perfect. I needed to be here in this pool right now for this moment. Then she asked me if I wanted to work with her company and do different things and from there, that’s how I’ve been able to wear a few tails, which is awesome!

AD: Spill! Is the burlesque show you’re in anything like what Cher or Christina portrayed it to be?

JD: I love Cher and Christina, but that movie—I love the movie—is not burlesque, they don’t even take off clothes. They’re just wearing like lingerie. The point of burlesque is to take off things—they didn’t take off anything. There are some discrepancies, but I love the movie because it’s so ridiculous and insane. But, it should be called “dancing in lingerie” not burlesque.

AD: Do you come up with your costumes or is there a designer behind the scenes?

JD: I actually do come up with most of my costumes myself and my best friend that I live with. She is like my wife, my creative consultant, my creative director; she’ll find stuff, and I’ll find stuff, and all the things that are sparkly, I rhinestone myself—so, I sit there and place each single stone on it, which is awesome. However, I’ve had a few companies that I sort of have a working relationship with that will send me lingerie which has been fun to cultivate that relationship with people. A lot of it’s just me finding things—I also sew. So, like the bigger clothed items pants, shirts, vests, stuff like that I will sew.

AD: How does it feel blurring the masc. and fem. line in the show?

JD: This is like my goal in life to represent that line. I always like to say it’s bold and daring, also confusing and titillating in a way. I love that line of making people be like, “should I be attracted to this?” “Am I attracted to this?” “Is this weird?” “Is this hot?” I love that. I think that it’s fun just to confuse people. I’ve always found that—even as a kid, I’ve always liked the aspect of drag. For me, I never related to the female illusion side of that; I just liked the glamour and so, finding boylesque in a way has been allowing me to blur that line of showing off my body like, “it’s a dude?” and having the lingerie on like, “is it a woman?” and find it really sexy.

AD: You turned thirty back in April of last year, how has that first year of this age bracket treated you?

JD: I love thirty! It was one of the best years of my life. I allowed myself to finally do the things I wanted to do and not care what anybody else thought about it. I don’t want to say I’ve wasted my twenties because wasted is a strong word, but I think there were some times where I wish I would have allowed myself to go after some of the things I really wanted to do. But, I was afraid of what other people would think—like they thought it was weird and that would limit me. Now, if there is something that scares me that I want to do, I do it. I tribute that to just age and being wiser than I was. My family has this saying, “Life is super short but, it’s also very long if you’re doing things that don’t make you happy.” That’s where I am in my life. If I want to parade around in lingerie and look like a silly prostitute, I’m going to do it. If I’m going to do a backflip in heels and thong, you better believe I’m going to do it.

AD: If you could have a conversation with your twenty-self, what would say?

JD: I would say, don’t be afraid to express yourself the way you want to. I know it all takes time and we’re all on a journey. However, I wish I would have been kinder to myself and experience things the way I wanted to. I think that’s the biggest thing I would say, and also be single. In my twenties, I was in three long term relationships, and was concerned about what they would think about the things I was doing, and that would limit me as well. I need the confidence and self-love I have now, then.

AD: If you weren’t doing fitness or burlesque, what would you be doing instead?

JD: I’ve actually thought about this a lot because there was time right before I got the unicorn opportunity, I was going to give up and go back to school—like give up performing and go for fashion design. My scholarship to college was in fashion and painting but ended up in dance. There have been those thoughts of what if I had done dance—what if I would have gone after that. And so, fashion design is what I would be doing.