Phi Phi O'Hara Opens Up About Spending A Month In Jail: "It Really Makes You Value Everything You Have"
Phi Phi O'Hara has been branded something of a "villain," but in a recent YouTube post, the RuPaul's Drag Race finalist showed some vulnerability and opened up about an unfortunate chapter in her past.
Responding to fans who wondered why she'd dropped out of sight—and the Battle of the Seasons tour—the Season 4 queen revealed she'd just spent the last 30 days in jail.
Speaking to the camera as Jaremi Carey, he revealed that he had outstanding warrants in Texas dating back nearly a decade to an old charge of theft involving an ex "buying" him a pair of glasses from their mutual place of employment.
Just 21 at the time, he was given probation, but a later DWI violated his parole.
Carey says he realized his situation in San Antonio was toxic, so he headed to Chicago without looking back.
He knew there was a dark mark on his record, but, well, life goes on—and the issue fell to the back burner when he couldn't find an attorney in Chicago who could help clear up the situation.
"I was young and I was immature," he says. "It was kind of an 'out of sight, out of mind' thing."
Carey stayed out of trouble for eight years, but when the BOTS tour returned from Canada, he was arrested.
In the video below, Carey doesn't excuse his behavior—he owns his mistakes.
He also describes the living conditions he saw in prison: filthy cells, not enough food, a three-day quarantine of gay prisoners who supposedly had scabies, and a lack of response to a transgender inmate's seizure.
"Being in there and seeing the conditions, it really makes you value everything you have," he says. "I've been to jail multiple times and I don't plan on ever going back."
Watch Jaremi's story below.
