Newly crowned RuPaul’s Drag Race queen Yvie Oddly went into Season 11 as an obvious fierce frontrunner, but it wasn’t until she pushed herself too hard and injured her ankle, during the “Draglympics” dance challenge, that viewers found out that she was living with an invisible disability and near-constant pain.

The 25-year-old punk-rock drag performer, whose real name is Jovan Bridges, had been battling chronic pain throughout the competition, and throughout her entire life, because of Ehlers-Danlos syndrome type 3, or hypermobile EDS (hEDS) — an incurable connective tissue disease that causes hyper-flexibility due to a lack of collagen production, and affects the skin, bones, blood vessels, and many organs.

"I don't produce a whole lot of collagen, so I have extra skin everywhere," Yvie explained to Drag Race producers, demonstratively stretching the loose skin on her scalp and face. "And I'm prone to dislocating my knees and things like that. But it's not going to hold me back in this competition."

Yvie wasn’t at all ashamed of her EDS, but she was discreet about it at first, due to the tendency of many ableists, and possibly even her fellow contestants, to dismiss those suffering from invisible disabilities. But eventually, her EDS was, ironically, an asset in the competition: The former teen gymnast was able to contort her super-flexible body into dramatic, Gumby-like shapes, particularly during the finale lip-sync to Lady Gaga’s aptly titled “Edge of Glory” that secured her victory.

Today @RuPaulsDragRace reminded us that great drag is whatever you want it to be. @OddlyYvie, you gagged me. Congratulations! 👑 pic.twitter.com/O9gVgArwFO — Miz Cracker (@miz_cracker) May 31, 2019

Still, Yvie is sadly aware that she won’t be able to perform like this for much longer. In a recent essay for Out.com, she wrote, "I know eventually I'm going to have to stop doing all of my crazy exhaustive acrobatic performances,” and during one poignant moment on Drag Race she noted that some people with EDS III eventually have to use wheelchairs, often while they are still very young.

But Yvie assures Yahoo Entertainment that nothing is going to prevent her from pursuing her career full-force. It’s the kickoff to Pride Month, and she has a lot to be proud of. She just released a music video for her debut single “Dolla Store,” and she’s “still turning out an amazing product and still following my dreams within my body's capability.” As she puts it, “I want to make sure I'm still living.”

Yahoo Entertainment: Have you gotten any feedback from fans, who are suffering from chronic pain or invisible disabilities, saying they’ve been inspired by your story?

Yvie Oddly: It's crazy, because everywhere I go, I'm meeting people that I didn't think existed before, because I refused to ever talk about it within myself or talk about how this disease was affecting my life. I never knew that there were other people out there who are going through the same or similar struggles. And now I feel like everywhere I go, there’s somebody else who understands what it's like to have to fight through this chronic pain. I feel like I've cried almost everywhere I go; I have a breakdown with somebody who tells me that they're really appreciative of me speaking out. And I'm so glad I did too now, because otherwise I just would have gone my whole life dealing with this pain alone.

Had you not planned to bring it up when you were on the show, or were you reluctant to bring it up? Or did you go on with the intention of creating awareness for EDS and similar conditions?

I mean, much like everything else on the show, I wanted to be honest and talk about it if it came up, like if there were issues. But I also was really hoping that there wouldn't be, because I didn't want my journey to be defined by my health, or by whether or not my body was working with me that day. I thought of it as this point of weakness — instead of as this point of strength in that yes, despite the fact that I am working through this invisible pain, I'm still turning out an amazing product and still following my dreams within my body's capability.