Despite the old adage about loose lips, Kim Petras believes her Madonna story is worth it.
The transgender singer won’t be sinking any proverbial ships with this week’s revelation, however, as Petras merely divulged Madonna’s generosity — and praised the Material Girl for hyping her up before performing at the 2023 Grammy Awards.
“I was so nervous,” Petras told People in an interview on Thursday about Madonna introducing her and Sam Smith at February’s ceremony. “I was freaking out. After her speech, she turned around and mouthed to me, ‘Go get it, bitch.’ That made me feel like, I got this.”
Petras and Smith delivered a fiery performance of “Unholy,” only for Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-Ga.) to call it “demonic.” However, the pair made respective history as the first trans and non-binary artists to win a Grammy for best pop duo/group performance.
“All these years are going through my head of people saying I’d be a niche artist because I’m transgender,” Petras said backstage, “and my music would only ever play in gay clubs — and what’s wrong with that, because I love gay clubs — but now I got a Grammy.”
The 30-year-old German, whose Feed the Beast Global Tour kicks off in August, told People that she’s always felt like she’s had “a special connection with Madonna” — even as a child before getting gender-affirming surgery at 16.
“I always felt like she pushed gender, and she wasn’t necessarily only super-feminine or super-masculine, and she just is Madonna,” Petras told the outlet. “I think Madonna gave me a lot of hope and strength and stuff when I needed it, even as a kid.”
Madonna has certainly never shied away from supporting people whose sexual or gender orientations are sidelined by society. She famously said, “Everybody has a bisexual nature” in 1991, kissed Britney Spears at the 2003 VMAs — and claimed she was gay in 2022.
The Like a Virgin singer was thus determined to stand by Petras at the Grammys.
“It was an honour for me to introduce Kim Petras and Sam Smith at the Grammys,” she wrote at the time. “I wanted to give the last award, which was album of the year, but I thought it was more important that I present the first trans-woman performing at the Grammys.”
Petras’ major-label debut Feed the Beast drops on Friday.