'RuPaul’s Drag Race' winner Yvie Oddly on performing with Ehlers-Danlos syndrome and chronic pain: 'I don't know what my time limit is'
#RuPaulsDragRace #YvieOddly #DragQueen #JovanBridges #HypermobileEDS #Ehlers-Danlossyndrometype3 Newly crowned RuPaul’s Drag Race queen Yvie Oddly went into Season 11 as an obvious fierce frontrunner, but it wasn’t until she pushed herself too hard and injured her ankle, during the “Draglympics” dance challenge, that viewers found out that she was living with an invisible disability and near-constant pain. The 25-year-old punk-rock drag performer, whose real name is Jovan Bridges, had been battling chronic pain throughout the competition, and throughout her entire life, because of Ehlers-Danlos syndrome type 3, or hypermobile EDS (hEDS) — an incurable connective tissue disease that causes hyper-flexibility due to a lack of collagen production, and affects the skin, bones, blood vessels, and many organs. "I don't produce a whole lot of collagen, so I have extra skin everywhere," Yvie explained to Drag Race producers, demonstratively stretching the loose sk