Maxi Shield: maxi shield dies aged 51 five months after devastating diagnosis
Maxi Shield has died aged 51, five months after announcing a cancer diagnosis. The performer, whose real name was Kristopher Elliot, starred on RuPaul’s Drag Race Down Under and left fans and fellow performers devastated.
Career and Drag Race
Maxi Shield competed on the first season of RuPaul’s Drag Race Down Under in 2021. On the show she impersonated Magda Szubanski during the Snatch Game. Her run ended after she placed in the bottom two of the makeover challenge and then lost a lip-sync against Scarlet Adams.
Stage life and highlights
Kristopher Elliot performed as Maxi Shield for more than two decades and was a fixture on stages on Oxford Street and across Australia. Her resume included appearances at large events: she performed in the closing ceremony of the Sydney Olympic Games in 2000 and at the Gay Games opening in 2002. She described herself on the Drag Race season as a proud, “plus-sized older queen” and the “seasoned chook” of the cast.
Edinburgh Fringe and illness
In the middle of last year Maxi was performing overseas at the Edinburgh Fringe Festival in a show called Fountain Lakes In Lockdown: A Drag Parody when she was hospitalised after experiencing a “very scary” health issue. She was rushed to hospital in Scotland as an emergency after suffering from an issue with a swollen gland that was pressing on blood vessels in her throat. Tests later revealed cancer and she said, “this little swollen thing on the side of my throat is cancer” with a “70-80 per cent treatment rate. ”
Treatment, fundraiser and January round
Following the diagnosis, Maxi Shield began chemotherapy to try to shrink the tumour. Her latest round of treatment began in January. From her hospital bed in Scotland she shared candid updates with fans and expressed gratitude for the outpouring of love. Fundraisers were organised to help with medical expenses and travel challenges; one fundraiser set a goal of $10, 000 and hit that target within three days.
Tributes to Maxi Shield
The immediate announcement of her passing was shared by Wigs By Vanity on Instagram: “It’s with the heaviest of hearts that we share the news that our dearest sister, Maxine, has passed away.
“We are all mourning the loss of an incredible icon, friend, and our beloved sister. Thank you for the laughs, the cackles, and the magic you brought into our lives. I will cherish every second of our 30-year friendship, and I’m so grateful that I was a part of your chosen family. You will be forever loved and deeply missed. I love you old girl. ”
Universal Sydney licensee Dillon Shaw posted from the Universal social media pages, writing: “We are shocked and deeply saddened by the news of our beloved Maxi Shield’s passing.
“In all my years in this community, there has never been a time I can remember when Maxi wasn’t an iconic presence (and she’d absolutely smack you for reminding her of that). Maxi worked across every queer venue in Sydney, touching hearts not only across the country but around the world through her appearance on Drag Race Down Under.
“This Mardi Gras will feel different. It will be more solemn, as so many of us gather carrying the space left by her smile, her quick wit, and her remarkable spirit. ”
On social media fellow performer Beverly Buttercup wrote: “What a fight you gave it! What a showgirl! A true legend will be sadly missed. ” Friends, fans and fellow performers have shared memories of Maxi’s sparkling stage presence and the joy she brought to audiences throughout Australia and beyond.
Legacy and closing
Maxi Shield, born Kristopher Elliot, leaves a long record of performance, community work and visibility. She had been open about her health battle and had been undergoing chemotherapy since her diagnosis. She died aged 51, five months after first announcing the cancer diagnosis, leaving friends and the drag community to mourn.
Unclear in the provided context: the precise date and place of death and details of any surviving family beyond the quoted friends and colleagues.
