Chris Crocker on His Mom, Britney Spears, and the Haters That Made Him Famous ... - Towleroad

Chris 'Leave Britney Alone' Crocker is the subject of a forthcoming HBO documentary Me @ The Zoo.

V Magazine talks to Crocker in a new interview.

Watch, AFTER THE JUMP...

Writes V in the print issue:

“Back in 2006, when I started posting videos, there really weren’t many visible gay teenagers making videos about their own lives,” says Crocker. Home-schooled after being relentlessly bullied over his ultra-femme/trans appearance, he found strength, paradoxically, in being as visible as possible in the online world. “I was used to the hatred, so I didn’t care,” he says. “I was paying attention to the fact that there were actually people out there who related to me. Having people write and tell me that I gave them confidence and made them feel better about going to school, that’s what I was drawing from. I never took the death threats seriously.”

Crocker also never saw himself as different from other kidsâ€"at least not until they started teasing himâ€"in part because of the way his mother had raised him. “She’s very free-spirited and didn’t care if I had long hair in braids or played with Barbies and was feminine,” he says. “The years with her really had an impact on me.” Me @The Zoo makes the connection between Crocker’s relationship with his troubled momâ€"who still struggles with addiction and homelessnessâ€"and his compassion for Britney Spears, which is what led to the video that made him famous.

Posted May. 7,2012 at 9:32 AM EST by Andy Towle in Chris Crocker, News | Permalink

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