Patti LaBelle Calls Herself 'the Original Drag Queen'

Before there was Ru, there was Patti.

"I'm the original drag queen," 77-year-old Patti LaBelle told Page Six. "I was wearing crazy hair, crazy makeup, crazy clothes [from the beginning].

"I always accepted everybody," she went on to say. "And I think they saw [in] me someone that they could spill their hearts to. And they just follow me.

"I love gay people. I love all people," she continued. "I think my gay following realize that I'm one of those girls that they can come to say whatever they have to say, and I say, 'It's OK.'"

LaBelle's comments come as she announces she's taking to the road in September with dates in Maryland, New Jersey, North Carolina and Virginia.

"I'm so excited to wear pumps and a costume, get on that stage with a microphone in my hand, and to see an audience who's safe, who's vaccinated, who's laughing together, loving together and cheering and all of that stuff," she told us. "I can't wait to see a live audience."

LaBelle can also be seen in a new commercial where she plays the Old Spice Guy's mother-in-law who shares some of the company's body wash with him. LaBelle told Page Six that she "grew up in a family of men who used Old Spice – and she still uses it to this day."