Beloved Australian drag queen and Drag Race Down Under star, Maxi Shield, dies aged 51

Shield appeared in closing ceremony of 2000 Sydney Olympic Games and was a mainstay of the city’s drag scene

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One of Australia’s best-known and loved drag queens, Sydney’s Maxi Shield, has died following a diagnosis with throat cancer, prompting tributes from around the world.

Kristopher Elliot, who performed drag under the name Maxi Shield, was 51. She was a mainstay of the Sydney drag scene, and brought Australian drag to the world as contestant in season one of RuPaul’s Drag Race Down Under.