Conchita Wurst secret: My beard is not 100 percent real

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Written by Linda Hohnholz

(S)he is home. This was Austria’s first Eurovision win since the Eurovision 1966. It’s the biggest music event in Europe and a major contributor to the European travel and tourism industry.

(S)he is home. This was Austria’s first Eurovision win since the Eurovision 1966. It’s the biggest music event in Europe and a major contributor to the European travel and tourism industry. Copenhagen tourism officials must have loved it!

Five hours ago, the winner and representative of the Alpine Republic and EU Austria member, Conchita Wurst put on her Facebook: โ€œI’m home! I don’t know what to say…. THANK YOU!!!!โ€

A little earlier and after her big win – with 290 points on the board – Conchita tweeted:

โ€œLast Day of this fantastic Journey. Because of YOU I live my Dream! Thank you so much!! We are unstoppable!โ€

Conchita does, however, have one problem most other women don’t, a lack of hair care products for her beard that in its current form has been growing since 2013. She recently confessed to the Austrian media: “My beard is not 100 percent real, I have found a trick to make it look particularly good – I use eye shadow and a thick brush to make it stand out.”

While in German, โ€œWurstโ€ means โ€œsausage,โ€ the performer compares the choice of last name to the common German expression โ€œDas ist mir doch alles Wurst,โ€ which translates as โ€œit’s all the same to me,โ€ and โ€œI don’t care,โ€ stating that the name emerged from the first meaning of the expression and added, “It doesn’t really matter where one comes from, and what one looks like.” In the same interview, the performer stated that the first name was from a Cuban friend.

Conchita, the bearded lady, is also known as Tom or Thomas Neuwirth, but everyone knows her as the drag persona Conchita Wurst. Wurst represented Austria and won the Eurovision Song Contest 2014 in Copenhagen on Saturday. The singer uses female pronouns for self-description when in the role of Wurst.

Neuwirth was born in Gmunden, Austria, in 1988.

In 2007, Neuwirth reached the final of the 2007 Austrian casting show Starmania and returned to television in 2011 in drag as the character “Conchita Wurst,” a persona he created in response to earlier experiences, and said, “This is about an important message; it’s [a] call for tolerance for everything that seems different.”

The character Conchita Wurst has participated in the ORF production โ€œThe Hardest Jobs of Austria,โ€ working in a fish factory, and in โ€œWild Girls,โ€ in which a group of candidates had to survive in the deserts of Namibia together with native tribes.

Neuwirth graduated from the Graz School of Fashion in 2011 and has lived in various locations in Vienna.

Her music career

2006โ€“07: Starmania & Jetzt Anders!

In 2006, Neuwirth took part in the third edition of the Austrian TV show โ€œde:Starmania,โ€ finishing in second place (Nadine Beiler placed first). One year later, Neuwirth founded the boy band โ€œJetzt Anders!โ€ that disbanded the same year.

2011โ€“12: Die groรŸe Chance & Eurovision 2012

In 2011, Neuwirth introduced the persona Conchita Wurst on the ORF’s show โ€œDie groรŸe Chance.โ€ She came second in the Austrian pre-selection for the Eurovision Song Contest 2012.

2013โ€“14: Eurovision Song Contest 2014

On September 10, 2013, it was announced that Wurst would represent Austria at the Eurovision Song Contest 2014, to be held in Copenhagen, Denmark, after being selected by the Austrian national broadcaster ORF.

Wurst’s selection sparked controversy in Austria. Four days after ORF announced its decision, more than 31,000 people liked an “Anti-Wurst” Facebook page.

In October, the Ministry of Information in Belarus received a petition calling on BTRC, Belarus’ state broadcaster, to edit Wurst’s performance out of its Eurovision broadcast. The petition claimed that the performance would turn Eurovision “into a hotbed of sodomy.โ€ In December, a similar petition surfaced in Russia. In March 2014, Wurst’s song was revealed as “Rise Like a Phoenix.”

At the second semi-final on May 8, Wurst qualified for the final on May 10. At the finals held in Copenhagen on May 10, 2014, she won the competition with 290 points.

About the author

Avatar of Linda Hohnholz

Linda Hohnholz

Editor in chief for eTurboNews based in the eTN HQ.

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