# Willow Pill

Willow Patterson, known by the stage name Willow Pill, is an American drag performer. She is best known as the winner of season 14 of RuPaul's Drag Race in 2022.

## Early life

Patterson was raised in Denver, Colorado and attended Arapahoe High School in Littleton Public Schools. Patterson later attended Colorado State University.

## Career

In an interview with KGNU in 2016, Willow Pill explained her drag persona was "a mix of 41 and 14... I'm kind of obsessed with little stoner girls as well as older women, like moms, that can't catch a break." Her first performance was at a Colorado State University drag show, where she wore "a pink '90s housewife tracksuit, complete with glasses and a pearl necklace." She performed a comedy routine and danced to a mix of Missy Elliott and Gwen Stefani songs.
In 2022, Willow Pill gained wider prominence as a contestant on season 14 of RuPaul's Drag Race, where she won the main challenge on the third episode, earning a cash prize of $5,000. Her Snatch Game performance as Drew Barrymore placed her in the bottom seven, and she participated in the lip-sync tournament on episode eight. She won the first round against Bosco. She placed in the bottom a second time during episode 14, and was required to "lip sync for her life" against Angeria Paris VanMicheals. Following their performance of "Telephone" by Lady Gaga ft. Beyoncé, neither was eliminated, resulting in five contestants advancing to the finale, a first for the series.
On the April 22, 2022, season finale, Willow Pill performed "I Hate People" and defeated Lady Camden in a lip-sync battle to Cher's version of ABBA's "Gimme! Gimme! Gimme! (A Man After Midnight)" and was declared the season's winner, earning a cash prize of $150,000, the highest amount awarded to date in a regular season so far. After being crowned the winner of season 14, Willow Pill became the second openly transgender person to win a regular season of RuPaul's Drag Race in the United States, and the sixth openly transgender contestant to win a season of the Drag Race franchise at the time of their crowning.

## Personal life

Willow identifies as trans femme and uses they/she pronouns, making her one of the five transgender contestants of Season 14. She initially opened up about her gender identity in an episode of untucked and later came out as trans via social media during the airing of the season. She and two of her cast-mates, Bosco and Jasmine Kennedie, came out as transgender over the progression of the season, making S14 the season with the most openly trans contestants including Kornbread Jeté and Kerri Colby, who had openly been out prior to the airing of the season. Patterson has had cystinosis her whole life.

## Filmography
### Television

| Year | Title | Role | Place |
| 2022 | RuPaul's Drag Race (season 14) | Contestant | Winner |
| 2022 | RuPaul's Drag Race: Untucked | Contestant | Winner |
| 2023 | RuPaul's Drag Race (season 15) | Herself | Guest |

### Web series

| Year | Title | Role | Notes |
| 2021 | Meet the Queens | Herself | Stand-alone special RuPaul's Drag Race Season 14 |
| 2022 | Whatcha Packin' | Herself | Guest |
| 2022 | The Awardist | Herself | Guest |
| 2022 | The Pit Stop | Herself | Guest |
| 2022 | Folx Presents | Herself | Guest |
| 2022 | Meet the Queens | Herself | Host RuPaul's Drag Race Season 15 |
| 2023 | Sloppy Seconds' | Herself | Guest |
| 2023 | Give It to Me Straight' | Herself | Guest |
| 2023 | Fashion Photo RuView | Herself | Guest |

### Music videos

| Year | Title | Artist |
| 2021 | "Sick Bitch" | Yvie Oddly feat. Willow Pill |
| 2022 | "Taste So Good (The Cann Song)" | Vincint, Hayley Kiyoko, MNEK and Kesha (Weedmaps x Cann) |
| 2022 | "Angle" | Willow Pill feat. Kornbread Jeté |

## Awards and nominations

| Year | Award-giving body | Category | Work | Results |
| 2022 | MTV Movie & TV Awards | Best Reality Star | RuPaul's Drag Race | Nominated |
| 2022 | Critics' Choice Real TV Awards | Best Ensemble Cast in an Unscripted Series (Shared with the Season 14 cast) | RuPaul's Drag Race | Won |
| 2022 | People's Choice Awards | The Competition Contestant of 2022 | RuPaul's Drag Race | Nominated |
| 2023 | Queerty Awards | Closet Door Bustdown (Shared with Bosco, Jasmine Kennedie and Kornbread Jeté) | RuPaul's Drag Race | Runner-up |
| 2023 | Queerty Awards | Drag Royalty | Herself | Nominated |