--- title: "RuPaul Building Fortified Compound to Withstand “Cycle of Destruction”" description: "## Bunker Buster" date: "2024-03-02" modified: "2024-03-02" authors: - name: "Jon Christian" job_title: "Executive Editor" link: "https://futurism.com/authors/jonc" url: "https://futurism.com/the-byte/rupaul-compound" categories: - "Future Society" tags: - "doomsday bunkers" - "rupaul" - "the digest" - "wealth" --- # RuPaul Building Fortified Compound to Withstand “Cycle of Destruction” ![In a new interview, drag superstar RuPaul Andre Charles dishes on a variety of topics -- including his fortified compound.]() *RuPaul at the Paramount Emmy Party held at Catch Steak on September 10, 2022 in Los Angeles, California. (Photo by Gilbert Flores/Variety via Getty Images) \Image: Gilbert Flores/Variety via Getty Images\* ## Bunker Buster Acclaimed drag performer RuPaul Andre Charles — of "RuPaul's Drag Race" fame, and known universally by his first name — has a new memoir out this week, titled "[The House of Hidden Meanings]()," and to promote it he gave an [extensive and fascinating interview]() to *The New Yorker*. The resulting profile is a can't-miss meditation on fame, gender, entertainment and more. But probably the single wildest part comes toward the beginning, when RuPaul alludes to what the magazine describes as a "fortified compound" he's building with his husband in Wyoming. "Humans on this planet are in the cycle of destruction," RuPaulsaid, enigmatically. "I am plotting a safety net." "I wouldn’t call it a bunker," he continued, and then referenced documentaries about castles he's been watching before bed: "It’s a lot of concrete and a lot of things. I keep thinking about these castles that I’m going to bed to." ## Compound Eyes The wealthy — RuPaul's net worth is estimated to run [well into the tens of millions]() — have developed an extraordinary penchant for doomsday compounds. Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg is [one such aficionado](), with a $100 million Hawaii hideaway with its own source of power, a blast door, and a commitment to secrecy so profound that it totally backfired, with the public becoming intensely fascinated by his efforts. Other billionaires have even reportedly been [outfitting their apocalypse lairs]() with elaborate traps to foil would-be intruders. Add it all up, and it's hard to escape the sense that the elite class feels the global order, or at least their place in it, to be at least somewhat tenuous. In part, maybe that's born of the fact that they're [not widely liked](); that's one of many themes that RuPaul's *New Yorker* interview explores, as the aging star reckons with the legacy of a once-radical sensibility that younger generations now often find to be bowdlerized, dated, or overly commercial. Responding to those critiques toward the end of the piece, tellingly, RuPaul looped back to the not-bunker. "Don’t take other people too serious," he advised. "If you have to, build a fucking compound somewhere, but stay ahead of their own self-destructive, ridiculous mentality." **More on doomsday bunkers:** [*This Luxury Nuclear Apocalypse Bunker Has a Swimming Pool, Movie Theater and Sauna*]() ## Author I'm responsible for editing, assigning, and scouting at Futurism, as well as occasionally writing for the site. That work involves keeping an eye on a wide range of narratives and issues, but over the past few years I've become increasingly interested in how AI is shaping the future of media, the web, and information itself. My day-to-day often involves collaborating on reporting and commentary projects bylined by my colleagues, but I try to find time to do my own reporting as well; stories I've broken for Futurism have been cited by publications including the New York Times, the Washington Post, the New Yorker, Wired, Ars Technica, New York Magazine, the Columbia Journalism Review, Bloomberg, and more. I grew up in Southern Vermont and attended Vanderbilt University. Prior to Futurism, I contributed to outlets including the Boston Globe, Vice, Wired, Slate, the Atlantic, the Outline, Ars Technica and more, and did stints in farming and food service. I currently live in Brooklyn, New York, and in my free time I enjoy pinball, word games, cycling, running, and music production. ### Author social links [Bluesky]()