Quotes by Johnny Weir

Anytime you get men in glitter, it’s a flamboyant occasion! 

Being in the public eye is part of what I do, and taking on a multitude of different projects – television, radio, fashion, writing or deep-sea diving – is a blessing. It is also how I pay my bills and fund my own skating, as I don’t have a sponsor or financial help from my federation. 

Creating emotion was what my career was all about. I wanted people to laugh at me; I wanted people to cry with me. I wanted people to feel good or to think about something when they watched me. I think that’s why, even not being an Olympic champion, I have such a huge following around the world. 

Despite the usual idea of a figure skater, I have no rhythm when it comes to even walking off the ice. I fall off curbs all the time. 

Don’t bring a prop. It’s almost like they were afraid nobody would know who they are. 

Every little boy should be so lucky as to turn into me, 

Fashion is something that I want to be involved with for a long time, and I want to show that I can give people what they want while still keeping my pizzazz and my razzle-dazzle. 

Figure skating is a bit dated – it’s like that tweed jacket you pull out of the back of your closet from time to time, and I’m going to try to Chanel it up a little bit. 

Figure skating is theatrical, and a part of it is wearing costumes. My costumes were very over-the-top and outrageous for figure skating. But for me, it’s all beautiful. Even when nobody else believed they were beautiful, I felt beautiful in them. 

Figure skating is theatrical. It’s artistic. It’s elegant. It’s extremely athletic. And there’s a very specific audience for that. 

Finding someone to share your life with is one of the most important things a human can do and was preached to me by my mother. 

For me, I skate as masculine as I can. I’m not a big strong guy. I’m not interested in fighting or throwing punches or balling my hands in fists all day. I’m not interested in guns, I’m not interested in football or stereotypically masculine things, so I’m going to skate in a fashion that is manly for Johnny Weir. 

I am an American man, and in America, we still think of figure skaters as little girls in pretty, sparkly dresses – I worked very hard to change the perception and image of figure skating, and I think I’ve done a great job on my end, but in figure skating, taste needs to evolve. 

I am often criticized for spending too much time off the ice, but if you were in my shoes, you’d see how necessary it is. 

I definitely don’t think of myself as an actual male model. I’m far too short and my legs are far too muscular. 

I definitely feel like I’m more of an artist than an athlete. But I’m good at both. 

I design all of my costumes. I like to go out there and feel like I have contributed to every part of what I do. I choose the music, the choreographer, I’ve obviously chosen my coach, my costumes – all if that falls under my realm of power, my realm of influence. 

I don’t eat as much as an athlete should. I just don’t like it. 

I don’t take on a project unless I know the end result is going to make me happy. If I can’t give 100 percent to something, I choose not to do it because it’s very difficult to have so many pots on the fire at one time. 

I don’t want to spend my life on an ice cube. 

I drink Vitamin Water nonstop – I should have an IV. 

I feel like at the Olympics I gave the best performance of my life and I wasn’t rewarded for that as an athlete. Yes, my fans and my mom were happy about it, but I didn’t win that gold medal. 

I got into figure skating for the art of it, as well as the sport, and how much I love it. And, you know, I do everything that I want. I march to my own drummer. Sometimes people have an issue with that, and I can’t control it. 

I grew my beard out a little bit just to show that, indeed, I am a man. 

I hate summer, to be honest. I hate dressing. I hate the heat. I hate sweaty people getting aggressively close to you when you’re walking down the street. 

I have a whole fur closet. I’m not afraid of PETA. 

I have always thought that being a good American is appreciating the world, not just your own country. 

I have been a figure skater for so long that when I stopped that competitive day-to-day grind, I didn’t know what to do with myself. I don’t know how the world works outside of being barked at by a Ukrainian woman and watching my weight. 

I hope that more children have the same opportunities as me, with the same parents as me, that let me be an individual, who gave me freedom, and taught me to believe in myself before anyone else would believe in me. 

I love skating and sparkling and flying around the ice, and people clap for you. It’s an amazing feeling. 

I love the Olympic Games. The Olympics are an event that few can fathom but all can enjoy, and that’s why athletes work our whole lives to put on the greatest show on Earth. 

I never ever wanted to change my sport… Figure skating was my outlet, it was my breath, it was how I could live and transmit everything I was feeling and everything I had worked for and given up and all these sacrifices I’d made throughout the years. It was how I could make them all worth it. 

I played soccer, and I was the kid who ran the wrong way, or I was pretending to be some sort of zebra and I would flail my arms and kick up my legs. 

I showed myself a lesser version of myself that night, and I’m glad I learned from it. 

I still have so much passion to perform… That’s who Johnny Weir is: I’m a figure skater, I’m an athlete. I want to have fun and enjoy it. 

I suppose being fierce is a very good thing, and a very cool thing. But more than fierce, I think I’m a strong person and a strong individual. And that’s what I take with me every day. 

I think being in the public eye can only help me launch into the world of fashion. 

I think I’ve gotten more attention after the Olympics than any other U.S. athlete, and it’s really great that people are recognizing who I am and what I do. You look at Shaq and you see a basketball player. You look at Tiger Woods and you see a golfer. But people are responding to who I am. 

I think it is important for young people to see other young people on television doing something positive with their life, making positive changes and growing. I don’t think there is enough of that on TV. I mean, we’ve got ‘Jersey Shore,’ and I don’t know what that teaches young kids. 

I totally understand that I am a little outrageous in some ways… I’m a little un-P.C., but I really wish I had the chance to perform for the American fans. 

I want to be judged by who I am, not what I am. I mean, I am Johnny Weir. Judge me the way you see me, love me the way you see me, hate me the way you see me. 

I want to create things while I have time on Earth, and the art of costume and culture has always inspired me. 

I will be 60 or 70 years old still rocking my Chanel blazer with my hair all coiffed. 

I would love to be a spokes model for Karl Lagerfeld or Balenciaga or something like that. 

I wouldn’t participate in ‘Stars on Ice’ if I were asked. I find it an amateurish tour in a way, the production quality. 

I’d love to learn how to foxtrot and cha cha. Believe it or not, I have terrible dancing skills. I can do everything on the ice, but as soon as you put me on the ground, I’m that person that falls down walking off a curb. 

I’d say in general, my style is Johnny Weir style. It’s my style. I can’t classify it as anything else. 

I’m a huge fur fan; it’s no secret to anyone anymore. 

I’m an ice skater. I’m all about the glitter. 

I’m an insomniac. Ambien is my best friend. 

I’m different, and I have to be a warrior to be that way. But I have had some success; I hope I have touched the lives of some wonderful people, all by being what I see as myself but some others people see as different. 

I’m going to be a happy housewife. I’m going to be washing boxers and cooking and doing all those sorts of housewife duties. I just want to be happy and proud of every single day. 

I’m going to skate exactly the way I want to, create programs that I like, and everything will fall into place where it is supposed to. 

I’m good when I’m alone. I’m comfortable when I’m alone. I can sit and do lots of things all by myself. Sex included. 

I’m hoping my presence alone in Russia will be a show of strength for the Russian LGBT community, 

I’m not ashamed to be me. More than anyone else I know, I love my life and accept myself. What’s wrong with being unique? I am proud of everything that I am and will become. 

I’m not commercial, I’m not for Special K cereal and I’m not a Wheaties boy; I’m a little bit more avant-garde, a little bit more out there. 

I’m not really one to go out in public in dresses too often. I definitely mix it up between masculine and feminine all the time, but wearing a dress goes a little bit too far. 

I’m very inspired by the artfulness and soulfulness of the Russian people. 

I’ve always had a loud mouth, and for that I’ve gotten a lot of attention. I did falter in some big competitions in my career, but being counted out and not being seen as a threat is something I’m used to. 

I’ve always wanted to make a music video with skating and different imagery, something very artistic. 

I’ve held onto Ugg boots. I will never graduate to Crocs, but Ugg boots are always and forever. That’s my fashion stepchild. 

I’ve lived my whole life exactly the way I’ve wanted to. Being gay, being white, being male, it doesn’t matter to me. They’re all things I’m born with. 

I’ve never been invited to do ‘Stars on Ice’ before, which is the only figure skating tour in the U.S., and it’s disappointing that I can’t perform for my American fans… all because I’m not ‘family friendly’ enough. 

I’ve never thought of the Olympics as a political statement. I really think a boycott … is in the wrong as far as the athletes are concerned. 

Ice shows give us the opportunity to forget ourselves and just perform. They are amazing opportunities to be in front of audience to try out new material, to show new costuming. It’s an incredible opportunity to do what we do without the stress of worrying about what a judge is going to say. 

If I wanted to be any woman in the world, it would not be Bethenny Frankel. 

If just one person, one child who is made to feel isolated, looks at me and sees that it is okay to be your own person and walk down your own path, then everything I have ever gone through will be worth it. 

In figure skating, your body can only last for so long. I can’t be 50 and trying to skate but I can be 50 and be in fashion, so I have to look to my future and what I want to achieve. 

In spite of all the skills that I do have, to relate to the normal world I have no applicable skills. I can speak Russian, I can speak French. I know about Chanel. Especially vintage Chanel. I know what Halston is. All of these things, but they can’t really be applied to a nine-to-five. 

It’s easier for me to go to Russia and train with top coaches and choreographers there than go to Colorado Springs and train with 14 of my competitors. 

It’s of very little importance to me that I was born gay. It doesn’t make me a better athlete, it doesn’t make me a stronger person, it doesn’t really do anything to enhance my life. It’s just something I was born with, the same as green eyes. 

It’s really grinding to always play out of both sides of your mind and always be thinking what will offend people. Or what won’t. But I’m strong enough to deal with that. I own that I’m freakish in my way. 

Love myself I do. Not everything, but I love the good as well as the bad. I love my crazy lifestyle, and I love my hard discipline. I love my freedom of speech and the way my eyes get dark when I’m tired. I love that I have learned to trust people with my heart, even if it will get broken. I am proud of everything that I am and will become. 

Masculinity is what you believe it to be. I think masculinity and femininity is something that’s very old-fashioned. There’s a whole new generation of people who aren’t defined by their sex or race or who they like to sleep with. 

Michael Phelps is a sporting god among men. It is hard to say if anyone will ever match his accomplishments, but it has been an honor to see him become a legend. He makes me proud of the American sports institution and proud of the sports that get mass attention only every four years. 

Music is fun, but I’m an ice skater. I may sing songs and do shows, make movies and other things… that’s all well and good and I enjoy it, and I would never trade any of those for anything. But figure skating is who I am. 

My family, the support of my friends, the amount of people that have written and come up to me on the street and said, ‘Thank you for representing us,’ and Adam Lambert, and Lady Gaga, that’s been amazing. 

My whole career, I’ve had an issue with always kind of being an underdog and making a big mistake when it counts and falling and having to climb back up. One moment everything will be peachy and everyone will be saying the nicest things about me and loving me, and the next minute I’m the worst, I’m evil, all these things. It’s like a fallen angel. 

No mother wants to hear her son say he’s gay. Those two words rip the picture of a daughter-in-law and grandchildren into pieces. I felt sorry for my mom and wanted her to know everything was going to be all right. But then she said, ‘I don’t really care, Johnny, as long as I know that you are going to be happy.’ 

Nobody gets lucky all the time. Nobody can win all the time. Nobody’s a robot. Nobody’s perfect. 

Nothing shocks me anymore. I’ve embraced men in thongs, I’ve embraced women with padded bras. I mean, I can embrace Larry King saying ‘fierce.’ 

Now the fact that people are saying, ‘Oh my God, he’s finally come out’ – I was never in. 

Of course I was bullied and of course I was called names – my last name is Weir. That’s very, very close to ‘weird,’ or ‘queer’ and any of those words. But I’ve never been anyone to cry over spilled milk or be upset because kids don’t like me, or people don’t like me… It makes my skin stronger and thicker. And why cry? Your mascara runs. 

So many people in the gay community have always asked me to come out, say it like it is, and help our cause. But for me… I think my biggest statement I could give to the world is to be strong being myself… you have to make something of yourself, and that’s what makes us strong. 

Statistically, I’d say there are about as many gay figure skaters as there are gay football players. The majority are straight. There are just those few exceptions, and those are the ones who have gotten picked on and followed over the years. 

That makes me think of spandex-covered football players. It’s not me. I’m in rhinestones and velvet, not spandex. 

The booing and the drama help make the Olympics interesting, but at what cost? When will people finally get tired of it and start watching the X-Games or competitive tire rolling instead? 

The gymnastic events are really what I tune into the Summer Olympics for. 

The life of an athlete does have to be lonely and you have to be focused on your craft and what you do. Loneliness is just a sacrifice you make as an Olympic-level athlete. 

The skating community is very fickle. And with me, they’re especially fickle for whatever reason. Maybe I bring it on myself, but if you don’t prove yourself and you don’t skate consistently, then they can very easily write you off and bring somebody from behind you and put them in your place. 

There are some things I keep sacred. My middle name. Who I sleep with. And what kind of hand moisturizer I use. 

There’s a lot in my closet. I’ve been collecting things since I was five. I’m definitely a pack rat. I’m not a hoarder, but I’m definitely a pack rat. I will keep anything if I have a memory in it or a good moment. 

To be honest, I just want to go somewhere where I can wear a white Speedo. 

To me, figure skating is an art form, and that’s what I always try to bring in, even to my competitive programs. 

To me, skating should look effortless even when you’re doing the hardest of elements. 

To sum up my idea of on-ice costume fashion sense, it’s probably that too much is never enough. 

We are each an army of one. March forward with your army, never let go of your future and never listen to idiots who tell you ‘no.’ 

When you are an athlete, it’s difficult to take time off and say you want to come back without everyone judging you and attacking you. 

When you have an audience standing and screaming the entire way through the short program and cheering every element you do, whether it’s footwork, or spin, or a jump, to have that kind of emotion coming at you from every direction in the building, it’s the most amazing sensation you can get as a sportsman. 

Whether I moved people to throw punches or cry, I did that through my art and what I do. I would never take that experience away to race against a speedometer. Or play on a team. 

You only live once. Life is a show 

You only live once. Life is a show.