Who Was The Bearded Lady At Last Night’s Golden Globes?

If you were watching any of the multitudes of programming dedicated to the Golden Globes last night on TV and online, then you might have come across some coverage of the bearded lady pictured above. Her name is Conchita Wurst, and she’s actually Thomas Neuwirth, a 26-year old Austrian man who won the 2014 Eurovision Singing Competition — an international American Idol with 37 countries participating in a contest that dates back to 1956.

Here’s Neuwirth, as Conchita, performing “Rise Like a Phoenix”, which helped her and Austria win the contest. The over-the-top theatrics of this beats just about anything I’ve seen on any talent show.

If you haven’t watched American Horror Story: Freak Show, then maybe you haven’t gotten the memo: bearded ladies are in. Conchita attended the Golden Globes last night, not only to display her fashion choices, but also to send a message about artistic expression.

Neuwirth created Wurst sometime after a failed boyband experiment in 2007, and has since competed in several talent competitions in Europe. Wurst’s appearance last night bolstered a positive gender identity issue message that was also championed by Jeffrey Tambor when he accepted his award for “Best Performance in a TV Series”.