The 31-year-old star has opened up about their struggles with depression, anxiety and addiction, explaining that, while the problems began in their 20s, things further spiralled after taking part in ‘RuPaul’s Drag Race UK’ in 2021 and they “slipped back into a cycle”.
Speaking on their ‘The Pieces’ podcast series, Bimini said: “I came up through the scene where there is a lot of alcohol. There is a lot of drugs.
“The community really does struggle with it. But I have decided that enough is enough and I can’t continue anymore.
“I need to let go of all of that pain and all of that trauma that I’ve built up over the years and no longer blame myself, no longer blame anyone else.
“I have a substance abuse disorder and this is something that is ongoing and something that I am trying my hardest battle with and deal with. I will get there, and I know I will.
“I can’t keep continuing that cycle, and that pattern, and it needs to break. And the only way to do that is to admit that I have a problem. And there’s power there.”
Bimini wants to be “fully accepting” of their own journey and “how it affected” them, and has embarked on a fresh course of therapy, as well as receiving other “mental health help” from doctors.
They explained: “I never want it to feel like I’m ungrateful, but I guess at times I felt quite undeserving, especially when I was in a shame cycle.
“I’ve been diagnosed now [with] anxiety and depression and I’m getting mental health help from doctors. I’ve started back in therapy which I’ve been up and down with over the years.
“Sometimes [my] mind has been racing so much and there’s so much going on, that I turned to drugs and drink to quieten that. Sometimes it’s a coping mechanism that if I look back through my life, it’s always kind of been with me.”
Before ‘Drag Race UK’, Bimini had been sober for “a whole year”, but after the show felt “almost like a fraud”.
They recalled: “I slipped back into a cycle. I got chewed up and spat out by powerful men, or men that I thought had power that would dangle my career in front of me and not just threaten, took me through hell that I was not publicly able to share, I wasn’t able to talk about.
“I was silenced, and it affected me in such a dark way that I couldn’t cope and I didn’t know what to do anymore because I was still working.”
Bimini noted the struggle is “not linear” as sometimes they “felt stronger again”, but “then the darkness takes over”, and they feel in a position now to finally speak out.
They said: “I definitely feel like I’m in a stronger place, otherwise I wouldn’t be sat here right now saying this.
“This is something that I’ve wanted to address since, for three years. I want to be honest. This is the year that I finally sort my s*** out. deal with it, and be open and honest.
“I just want everyone to know that I’m not letting this happen anymore. I’m taking back the control of the narrative that’s happened over the years.
“I want to get back to being happy. I want to get back to being a really positive light and a happy person and dealing with everything head on in the best way and being a boss b**** that I know I am.”
