HOW THE MUSICAL, EVERYBODY’S TALKING ABOUT JAMIE, WAS CREATED: THE OFFICIAL STORY (NOT THE FAIRYTALE)
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NCE UPON A TIME in a small, former mining village in county Durham lived a boy called Jamie Campbell. Jamie always knew he was different and from a young age he liked to dress in girls’ clothes.
MARGARET CAMPBELL, JAMIE’S MUM He used to dress in my clothes all the time. I always knew when he’d been in my wardrobe because my things would be out of place or put back awkwardly on the hanger. When he was little I used to think his liking for girls’ clothes was just kids playing because our friends had a lot of girls and he would play with them. He always used to dress in tutus and fairy wings and people would just say, “Oh, there goes Jamie.” Nobody thought anything of it. His dad never liked it; he was a rugby player and he would have expected Jamie to go down the pits if they hadn’t been closed by then. But that was never going to happen. My mum, May, had a curtain shop and when he was younger he would go in and ask for a length of material and we would make him a dress together. We both loved making dresses for him.
Jamie and Margaret in the Apollo auditorium
What I admire about Jamie is that he believed in himself enough to dress in the way that made him happy. When he went into town he wouldn’t be in a frock but would dress in more flamboyant clothes that attracted some remarks. When people were horrid, he let the negative things go over his head because he was being true to himself, and that why his drag name is Fifi la True - he has to be true to himself. I love my boy and I feel so lucky: I got two in one, a son and a daughter in one labour!
When he was 14, Jamie came out to Margaret, thinking that if he said he was bisexual it might make it easier for her to accept. But she replied “Son, you’re gay,” having known for some time. It’s no wonder that Jamie describes his Mam, a single mother for much of his childhood, as his rock.