San Diego Pride 2014 is chock full of top-notch entertainment including Aussie sensation Ruby Rose, who rose to fame when she placed second in the Girlfriend model search, a competition produced by the popular teen Australian magazine Girlfriend.
Since then she has gone on to tackle television, film, fashion and music. That being said is there anything Rose can’t do? When asked if she had any aspirations in joining fellow Aussie Hugh Jackman in conquering Broadway she was quite candid in her response.
“I have always wanted to be in the Lion King,” Rose said. “Gosh you are reminding me I am so overdue for my Lion King tattoo. I think I would like to play Simba, but if I couldn’t get Simba I’d be OK with Pumba. I mean in all honesty I haven’t ever considered being on Broadway, but I did host a TV show where I put together a production of FAME The Musical, and I do love the stage, so perhaps I should look further into it. I’m really into musicals, and I loved Wicked.”
Rose credits her “mum” for who she is and for getting her to where she is today after many years of suffering and growing.
“My mum and I were lone warriors,” Rose confessed. “We travelled a lot, we suffered a lot, [and] we grew a lot. Just her and I for so many years, moving house all the time, like gypsies. She was very young and did a really good job all things considered. She just wanted to get us away from danger and make a better life for me. Knowing everything that happened and what she went through I think I learned a lot. Maybe not in the traditional way, not always the right way but we got there in the end. It’s been a trip.”
It was during that time that Rose got the strength to come out as a lesbian at the early age of 12. It wasn’t an easy thing for her to do. She put up with taunts and abuse for many years for being gay but looking back she wouldn’t have changed a thing.
“I knew [I was gay] from early childhood,” Rose said. “As a kid I had crushes on women and little interest in men. I was one of the boys really, making the Barbie dolls I was given make out and preferring the Ninja Turtles and Batman toys I had to any of the more girlie ones. I was a tomboy who hung out with boys because girls made me nervous. I came out at 12, but I am sure my mum knew earlier. The benefit of coming out so early is everyone takes it with a grain of salt and thinks it’s a phase because you’re so young. Then before you know it, time passes and the phase doesn’t. My family was good about it, students and strangers not so much.
“I wouldn’t take anything back and though I was crucified at school and out and about, sometimes I think it was an important journey. I look back and think, wow I had guts for a kid, I really did.”
Rose, originally from Australia, now resides in California and while she loves her life here, Australia will always have a special place in her heart.
The truth is Australia is very far away from everything,” Rose said. “It will always have my heart but I was ready for a new chapter. I [now] live in Silverlake, Los Angeles, with my strange pink haired dog that looks like a luck dragon and my fiancée Phoebe,” Rose said. “I love it here; it took me a long time to make the move because I have always been on tour and working, and it hasn’t really felt like I have had a home for a few years.”
Her stint for Pride this year will finally bring Rose to San Diego, and fans of her work can expect no less than a show filled with high energy and fun.
“I have never been [to San Diego] before and I am so stoked!” Rose exclaimed. “I just want to bring my energy and excitement to the stage. I am genuinely just so happy to be on the line up and with some friends too, so I expect us all to have a blast. There is nothing quite like Pride to bring out the colorful people and a sense of community.”
While Rose has been all about work and touring for many years, she is very adamant about people taking the time to travel and go places they have always wanted to visit.
“Strangely, I feel like I really got the essence of travelling in its richest form when I was a struggling student,” Rose said. “I had no mortgage, no pets, no responsibilities; I worked in bars, I stayed in hostels and I travelled with all my belongings on my back. I get to travel a lot with work and it’s half of why I do my job, but as far as personal trips, I don’t take any anymore! I was talking to a friend about this recently; it’s important and I should try to make time but it’s hard with schedules. When you travel so much for work, a dream holiday is being in your own bed. I met a 22-year-old at LAX and I struck up a conversation with him, he was using Craigslist and other sites to find places to stay, jobs, rides and just travelling his heart out. He didn’t have money, he was just making it a priority. If you believe in anything enough you will find a way to make it happen.”
Rose was a bit tight lipped about what’s next for her claiming that she’d be doing “more gigs and touring, plus some new projects.” But whatever it is, Rose will most likely attack it like she has with everything else she has done in her life so far, with determination and guts.
Ruby Rose will be appearing on the Stonewall Main Stage at San Diego Pride Saturday July 19 at 6 p.m. For more information on Ruby Rose visit facebook.com/OfficialRubyRose
