Monét X Change (born February 19, 1990), is the stage name of Kevin Akeem Bertin, an American drag queen, singer, podcaster, and reality television personality. She is known for competing on the tenth season of RuPaul's Drag Race (2018), on which she placed sixth and was selected as that season's Miss Congeniality, and for winning the fourth season of RuPaul's Drag Race All Stars (2018–2019) alongside Trinity the Tuck. She returned to compete in the seventh season of RuPaul's Drag Race All Stars, an all-winners season, where she placed runner-up. Monét X Change released her debut EP, Unapologetically, in 2019. Later that year, she debuted her own web talk show The X Change Rate, distributed by the BUILD Series.
She currently co-hosts the Sibling Rivalry podcast, with Bob the Drag Queen, and the Ebony and Irony podcast, with Lady Bunny.
Early life
Bertin was born in Brooklyn, New York City. At six months old, she moved to Castries, Saint Lucia, and then back to Brooklyn. She attended the Professional Performing Arts School in Manhattan. She later moved to The Bronx as an adult. She trained in opera performance at Westminster Choir College of Rider University.
The first drag pageant Monét X Change won was the sixth annual Gay Caribbean USA Pageant on September 27, 2014, representing Saint Lucia. Her drag sister is RuPaul's Drag Race season 8 winner, Bob The Drag Queen, and her drag mother is Honey Davenport, making her a member of the Davenport drag family.
Career
2018–present: RuPaul's Drag Race
Monét X Change was announced as one of fourteen contestants competing on the tenth season of RuPaul's Drag Race on February 22, 2018. She was eliminated in episode ten, placing sixth overall. She was named Miss Congeniality during the season's finale, and is the first holder of the title to have been voted by her fellow contestants. During episode one of Drag Race, Monét X Change made a dress decorated with kitchen sponges for the first runway challenge, which became a running joke throughout the rest of the series and inspired a number of Internet memes amongst fans online.
Monét X Change is a co-host of the podcast Sibling Rivalry with her drag sister Bob the Drag Queen. The first episode premiered on March 11, 2018. In June 2018, Monét X Change criticized rapper Azealia Banks on Twitter after Banks threatened to sue RuPaul for musical plagiarism. She appeared as a guest in an episode of What Would You Do on July 6, 2018. Monét also toured across the United States and Europe with her one-woman show, "Call Me By Monét."
She appeared in a Pepsi commercial with Cardi B in February 2019. On February 15, 2019, she was inducted into the RuPaul's Drag Race All Stars Hall of Fame alongside Trinity the Tuck after winning RuPaul's Drag Race All Stars Season 4, becoming the first black inductee into the Hall of Fame. In May, Monet revealed that she would be hosting her own weekly talk show called "The X Change Rate". She was interviewed on an episode of The View in June 2019. Monét X Change and Nina West returned to The View for Meghan McCain's birthday episode.
In June 2019, Monét X Change was one of 37 drag queens to be featured on the cover of New York magazine.
Monét X Change was one of the Inspirations for Sina Grace's character of Shade, Marvel's first drag queen superhero.
On October 22, 2019, Monét X Change was announced as part of the cast for the first season of RuPaul's Celebrity Drag Race, a Drag Race spin-off where Drag Race alumni transform celebrities into Drag Queens, which will premiere in 2020.
In January 2021, she launched another podcast, Ebony and Irony, co-hosted by Lady Bunny. In February of 2023, she and Bob The Drag Queen released their own makeup line, "BoMo Beauty", featuring the 8-shade "Pretty/Funny palette. In September 2021, she performed at the Life Is Beautiful Music & Art Festival.In April 2022, Monet X Change was announced as one of the eight returning winners that would be competing in seventh season of RuPaul's Drag Race All Stars, the first ever all-winners season of Drag Race. During the competition, Monét X Change placed in the top two of the first, ninth, and eleventh episodes, winning the first ever spoken word lip sync (a scene from Designing Women)in the ninth episode. She finished the season as a runner-up, ultimately losing the crown to Jinkx Monsoon.
Music
Bertin is a classically trained opera singer with a bass voice.