RuPaul’s Drag Race season 8 winner and Madonna’s Celebration tour performer Bob the Drag Queen announced that his mother, Martha Caldwell, died Sunday, on Mother’s Day.
The 37-year-old former We’re Here cohost shared the news in a heartbreaking comment on a Mother’s Day video posted by RuPaul.
“Hey Ru. I lost my mother today on mother’s day. It’s been a tough one for me. This message came just in time,” Bob replied to RuPaul’s video, in which the Emmy-winning Drag Race host spoke about his own mother 31 years after her death.
“My mom loved you,” Bob continued. “She thought you were so funny and charming. Happy Mothers Day to you.”
Bob also shared a tribute to his mother on his Instagram feed.
“Happy Mother’s Day, everyone,” Bob wrote alongside an older photo of his mom sitting at a computer desk. “Please call your mother today and tell her that you love her.”
Entertainment Weekly has reached out to a representative for Bob for more information.
Caldwell was beloved by Bob’s fans, becoming a popular presence on the Sibling Rivalry podcast that Bob cohosts with fellow Drag Race winner Monét X Change. Caldwell’s appearance on a 2023 episode of the show quickly became a fan-favorite installment in the series.
In January, amid touring with Madonna, Bob shared a photo of himself holding his mother’s hand while calling for prayers from his fans.
“I’m not really one for prayers, but if you are a praying person. . . my mother has asked for your prayers. She asks that you pray for strength, health, and perseverance,” Bob shared. “She asks that you pray out loud and use her name, Martha Caldwell.”
Both RuPaul and Madonna — two people who’ve played an important role in Bob’s career — shared Mother’s Day social media posts addressing the deaths of their respective moms. In the video Bob commented on, RuPaul reflected on the life of Ernestine Charles, who died on April 25, 1993 — the same day Ru was on stage performing his iconic set at the March on Washington for queer community rights.
Madonna tributed her mom on Sunday by posting a photo of herself standing beneath a large image of her mother on stage during the Celebration tour.
“I stood on stage for 81 shows staring up at the beautiful face of my mother and wondering what she must’ve been thinking as she waved goodbye to me from her hospital window. I stepped into the station wagon and shut the door not knowing it was the last time I’d see her,” Madonna wrote, recalling the circumstances of her mother’s death from cancer when Madonna was only five years old. “Nobody told me my mother was dying – I just watched her disintegrate mysteriously and then she disappeared and there was no explanation except that she had gone to sleep which explains My Tumultuous relationship with sleep.”
Madonna and Bob recently closed the Celebration tour with a free concert at Copacabana beach in Rio de Janeiro that drew an estimated 1.6 million people.