Johnny Weir
Love myself I do. Not everything, but I love the good as well as the bad. I love my crazy lifestyle, and I love my hard discipline. I love my freedom of speech and the way my eyes get dark when I'm tired. I love that I have learned to trust people with my heart, even if it will get broken. I am proud of everything that I am and will become.Collection: Good
I've never been invited to do 'Stars on Ice' before, which is the only figure skating tour in the U.S., and it's disappointing that I can't perform for my American fans... all because I'm not 'family friendly' enough.Collection: Family
I'm different, and I have to be a warrior to be that way. But I have had some success; I hope I have touched the lives of some wonderful people, all by being what I see as myself but some others people see as different.Collection: Hope
I suppose being fierce is a very good thing, and a very cool thing. But more than fierce, I think I'm a strong person and a strong individual. And that's what I take with me every day.Collection: Cool
I design all of my costumes. I like to go out there and feel like I have contributed to every part of what I do. I choose the music, the choreographer, I've obviously chosen my coach, my costumes - all if that falls under my realm of power, my realm of influence.Collection: Design
I hate summer, to be honest. I hate dressing. I hate the heat. I hate sweaty people getting aggressively close to you when you're walking down the street.
I grew my beard out a little bit just to show that, indeed, I am a man.
I played soccer, and I was the kid who ran the wrong way, or I was pretending to be some sort of zebra and I would flail my arms and kick up my legs.
Nobody gets lucky all the time. Nobody can win all the time. Nobody's a robot. Nobody's perfect.
I love skating and sparkling and flying around the ice, and people clap for you. It's an amazing feeling.
I definitely feel like I'm more of an artist than an athlete. But I'm good at both.
The life of an athlete does have to be lonely and you have to be focused on your craft and what you do. Loneliness is just a sacrifice you make as an Olympic-level athlete.
I'd say in general, my style is Johnny Weir style. It's my style. I can't classify it as anything else.
Figure skating is theatrical. It's artistic. It's elegant. It's extremely athletic. And there's a very specific audience for that.
I'm not ashamed to be me. More than anyone else I know, I love my life and accept myself. What's wrong with being unique? I am proud of everything that I am and will become.
Nothing shocks me anymore. I've embraced men in thongs, I've embraced women with padded bras. I mean, I can embrace Larry King saying 'fierce.'
In spite of all the skills that I do have, to relate to the normal world I have no applicable skills. I can speak Russian, I can speak French. I know about Chanel. Especially vintage Chanel. I know what Halston is. All of these things, but they can't really be applied to a nine-to-five.
Masculinity is what you believe it to be. I think masculinity and femininity is something that's very old-fashioned. There's a whole new generation of people who aren't defined by their sex or race or who they like to sleep with.
For me, I skate as masculine as I can. I'm not a big strong guy. I'm not interested in fighting or throwing punches or balling my hands in fists all day. I'm not interested in guns, I'm not interested in football or stereotypically masculine things, so I'm going to skate in a fashion that is manly for Johnny Weir.
I want to be judged by who I am, not what I am. I mean, I am Johnny Weir. Judge me the way you see me, love me the way you see me, hate me the way you see me.
I'm an ice skater. I'm all about the glitter.
To me, figure skating is an art form, and that's what I always try to bring in, even to my competitive programs.
Creating emotion was what my career was all about. I wanted people to laugh at me; I wanted people to cry with me. I wanted people to feel good or to think about something when they watched me. I think that's why, even not being an Olympic champion, I have such a huge following around the world.
I am an American man, and in America, we still think of figure skaters as little girls in pretty, sparkly dresses - I worked very hard to change the perception and image of figure skating, and I think I've done a great job on my end, but in figure skating, taste needs to evolve.
I think it is important for young people to see other young people on television doing something positive with their life, making positive changes and growing. I don't think there is enough of that on TV. I mean, we've got 'Jersey Shore,' and I don't know what that teaches young kids.
I don't want to spend my life on an ice cube.
Figure skating is theatrical, and a part of it is wearing costumes. My costumes were very over-the-top and outrageous for figure skating. But for me, it's all beautiful. Even when nobody else believed they were beautiful, I felt beautiful in them.
There's a lot in my closet. I've been collecting things since I was five. I'm definitely a pack rat. I'm not a hoarder, but I'm definitely a pack rat. I will keep anything if I have a memory in it or a good moment.
I don't take on a project unless I know the end result is going to make me happy. If I can't give 100 percent to something, I choose not to do it because it's very difficult to have so many pots on the fire at one time.
I've always wanted to make a music video with skating and different imagery, something very artistic.
I feel like at the Olympics I gave the best performance of my life and I wasn't rewarded for that as an athlete. Yes, my fans and my mom were happy about it, but I didn't win that gold medal.
Figure skating is a bit dated - it's like that tweed jacket you pull out of the back of your closet from time to time, and I'm going to try to Chanel it up a little bit.
I wouldn't participate in 'Stars on Ice' if I were asked. I find it an amateurish tour in a way, the production quality.
When you are an athlete, it's difficult to take time off and say you want to come back without everyone judging you and attacking you.
I still have so much passion to perform... That's who Johnny Weir is: I'm a figure skater, I'm an athlete. I want to have fun and enjoy it.
I think I've gotten more attention after the Olympics than any other U.S. athlete, and it's really great that people are recognizing who I am and what I do. You look at Shaq and you see a basketball player. You look at Tiger Woods and you see a golfer. But people are responding to who I am.
To be honest, I just want to go somewhere where I can wear a white Speedo.
It's really grinding to always play out of both sides of your mind and always be thinking what will offend people. Or what won't. But I'm strong enough to deal with that. I own that I'm freakish in my way.
My family, the support of my friends, the amount of people that have written and come up to me on the street and said, 'Thank you for representing us,' and Adam Lambert, and Lady Gaga, that's been amazing.
When you have an audience standing and screaming the entire way through the short program and cheering every element you do, whether it's footwork, or spin, or a jump, to have that kind of emotion coming at you from every direction in the building, it's the most amazing sensation you can get as a sportsman.
To sum up my idea of on-ice costume fashion sense, it's probably that too much is never enough.
I got into figure skating for the art of it, as well as the sport, and how much I love it. And, you know, I do everything that I want. I march to my own drummer. Sometimes people have an issue with that, and I can't control it.
The skating community is very fickle. And with me, they're especially fickle for whatever reason. Maybe I bring it on myself, but if you don't prove yourself and you don't skate consistently, then they can very easily write you off and bring somebody from behind you and put them in your place.
Despite the usual idea of a figure skater, I have no rhythm when it comes to even walking off the ice. I fall off curbs all the time.
I drink Vitamin Water nonstop - I should have an IV.
I'm an insomniac. Ambien is my best friend.
I don't eat as much as an athlete should. I just don't like it.
Fashion is something that I want to be involved with for a long time, and I want to show that I can give people what they want while still keeping my pizzazz and my razzle-dazzle.
I definitely don't think of myself as an actual male model. I'm far too short and my legs are far too muscular.
I would love to be a spokes model for Karl Lagerfeld or Balenciaga or something like that.