DeJa Skye is recalling a scary moment in her life.
The RuPaul’s Drag Race alum, 35, reflected on her decision to undergo weight loss surgery in 2023. Skye traveled to Mexico to get liposuction and a tummy tuck, and ended up returning to the hospital more than once after she says she experienced blood clots that impacted her ability to walk.
“It wasn’t a very good experience, if I’m being honest,” Skye said on RuPaul’s Drag Race All Stars during the show’s Friday, May 9, premiere episode. “My body was like, ‘No.’ It was crazy, like, I legit almost died. And that was the darkest time, just sitting in the hospital bed alone and being like, ‘Why did I do this to myself?’”
“If I’m being 1,000% honest, nobody went to me and went, ‘You need to lose weight.’ I just got in my head and I over-thunk,” she continued. “’Maybe it would help my career? Maybe it would help my drag?’ And in reality, I had it all before. It was just… I still don’t know why I did it.”
Skye went on to explain that in the end she wishes she hadn’t made the trip. “Do I regret it? I do. Obviously I’m thinner, but I almost died on that table. And it made me realize that the voices in my head can be my worst f***ing enemy, and I want to do better moving forward.”
In the Friday episode,Skye told her competitors Aja, Irene the Alien, Bosco, Olivia Lux and Phoenix that she still struggles with her sense of self-worth and how much she cares about other people’s opinions.
“I just constantly feel like I’m not good enough. I just don’t know where it stems from,” she said. “I don’t know why I can’t let myself just be happy for myself. For some reason I just care too much what people think.”
In January 2024, Skye revealed on Instagram exactly what happened after she went to Mexico. Her skin began to turn yellow after the surgery, she explained, which prompted her to seek care.
“I had to go back to the hospital and get three blood transfusions,” she said. “I had lost a lot of blood.” She returned to the United States two weeks later and was ultimately put on blood thinners to help treat clots in her legs and lungs.
“I couldn’t catch a break,” she explained. “My body, I guess, is just not equipped for surgery — which is maybe something I just didn’t realize because I’d never gone through any surgery before. But it’s just been one thing after the other.”
“My body is just going through an insane amount of trauma,” Skye added. “Recovery is a very slow process, and I didn’t think about that … Everyone I talk to is like, ‘It’ll be worth it.’ It is hard to look to the future when you’re in pain. If I knew it was going to be like this, I would have never gotten the surgery.”
