Beth Ditto is a cultural force. The Arkansas-born singer-songwriter and actress started her career as the frontwoman of three-piece band Gossip in 1999, their 2006 turbo-charged gay rights anthem Standing in the Way of Control shooting them to global fame. In an instant, Ditto became a straight-talking icon, leveraging her fame to bring increased awareness to queer, body positivity and feminist movements. “If I didn’t do something with all that, what would be the point?”

In 2016, Gossip split and Beth has since had her hand in many pots, including solo album Fake Sugar, writing Coal to Diamonds: A Memoir and launching an eponymous plus-size fashion line, before turning her focus to acting. However, this career transition was not all smooth sailing. Like many of us, the Coronavirus pandemic forced her to take a break. Ditto stayed in Portland (where she is based) and cared for her nieces while their parents continued to work, even considering getting childcare qualification when she feared a return to pre-pandemic life may not be on the cards. Then Monarch came along, a “musical soap opera” about a country music dynasty Ditto found herself starring as the daughter of the incomparable Susan Sarandon.

Before the interview starts, Beth says, “My problem with interviews is I always talk about everything but what we’re supposed to talk about.” After brief distractions by conversations about accents and a mutual love of cats, 1883 Magazine’s Bec Oakes chats with Beth about staring Monarch, how the pandemic made her more appreciative of art and music, the future of Gossip, and more.

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You are currently starring as country singer, Gigi Taylor Roman in Monarch on Fox. Tell me about the series and your experience on set.

Well, the series is funny. It’s a musical soap opera, which is something we didn’t know until it was completely finished. It was a really interesting, fly-by-the-seat-of-your-own-pants, project. We were only supposed to be there for four months but we ended up being there for nine. It was really rough going at first but everybody in the cast was so awesome, constantly being there for each other. It felt like we were on our own little island. I think when you’re on a TV show or any project where you’re far from home for a long time and you’re neck-deep in it, it can be hard to explain the little island you’re on. You could be talking to your partner who’s like 3000 miles away and you’re like, “no, you don’t get it but listen…”

How did you become involved in the project?

We were deep in the middle of the pandemic and everyone was freaking out, especially musicians that were touring. A lot of people, including myself, were trying to figure out what we were going to do now that live music was dead. We were like, “Okay, we don’t know when we’re coming back, we don’t know if this will ever go away.” Touring and live venues were just such a world away from reality. It felt like time to diversify. I was watching my two nieces during the pandemic because their parents still had to work and I thought, “I’m good at this.” I’ve always known I’m good with kids; when I was a kid I was like, “maybe I’ll be a teacher or something.” I was really considering getting my certifications and maybe starting a daycare because I was that scared that music would never come back. Then this part came through and they told me to audition for it. I auditioned like four times and eventually got it. It really took so much pressure off me because I’d been scared to death. 

I get what you mean. I graduated from university in 2020, right in the middle of the pandemic. There was just this fear because all the jobs that you expect to be there when you graduate had completely disappeared.

Oh, honey, I know. I can’t imagine. Turning 21 in 2021 would be a nightmare.

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Gigi is the daughter of country legends, Albie Roman and Dottie Cantrell Roman (played by Trace Adkins and Susan Sarandon). Can you introduce us to her and what we can expect from her throughout the series?

Gigi is a firecracker. She’s raised in this family of glitz and glamour and country music and she’s gay and she’s fat and she’s weird. She’s never really fit in with the family per se. She gets along with her siblings and her dad but she was always a bit of a disappointment to her mother. So her mother set all her sights on her older sister Nikki (played by Anna Friel) who is this more conventionally beautiful person. Despite sort of being pitted against each other because of their mother, Gigi and Niki are really close which is beautiful because sisterhood is so powerful. Gigi really didn’t want anything to do with the family business because she had been so hurt by being discouraged and cast aside by her family. So. she sets up her own life, she gets married, she has a kid, she owns a bar, and she works for a living. When she does show up to family functions and things like that, she’s the one that’s dressed down, just being herself. She doesn’t really buy into the bullshit. 

We get to see you perform in the show. Obviously, you have a strong musical background but how did you find the transition to country music?

The real thing that was difficult to transition to was pop-country. Country music is really diverse; it’s very raw and everyone has their own sound and style. But in pop-country it’s very rigorous and formulaic in a way. I’ve never had to deal with that in my career. In the world I’m from you do whatever you want to do and that’s what you’re supposed to be doing. I’ve been with Gossip since I was 18 and I’m 41 now; that’s a long time to be doing things your own way. It was a big thing; every word had to be delivered in a certain way. They would take studio musicians and you would listen to them while you’re recording to make everything word-by-word perfect. It was something I found really hard until one day a sound engineer I was working with told me, “You know you’re not being Beth right now, you’re being Gigi.” I had to learn to be Gigi in the studio. It was a completely different approach to music that I’m not used to at all but it gave me a lot of insight into pop music. That was really interesting for me.

We’ve touched on it already but how was your experience of the pandemic, being at home looking after your nieces? How did that affect you and your attitude towards working?

It makes you not take it for granted. With all those years of spending six-eight months on the road, I saw the people I loved really sparsely; kids were six months older each time I saw them. But as much as that’s really hard, it really made me realise how lucky I am to have a job like that and also how important art is and other artists are. Most of the artists I look up to and listen to and love are also people who depend on touring. It could’ve been so easy for all these people I love to go under and have to work a day job again. Everyone was staring that possibility in the face and it really made me appreciate music and art more.

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Going back slightly to your upbringing, you grew up in a small town in Arkansas where it’s fair to say you were a bit of a misfit. It can be really challenging growing up feeling like you don’t fit in or feeling limited by your environment. What advice would you give to that young person who’s yearning to find their place in the world?

You have to find your core group of people that make you feel good and loved and encouraged. People who you can be your honest self with. If you can’t then you have to ask yourself why. If the answer is ever that you’re afraid of what they’ll think of you or that they won’t love you anymore, you have to really question whether are they good for you. That’s the biggest thing for me; find your people, spend time with people that make you feel good and that’ll inspire you to make other people feel good too. The key to my survival and making it out of Arkansas and doing what I do for a living is that I met the most incredible, weird people in this small town. Meeting those people was game-changing and they’re still my best friends to this day.

Throughout your career, you’ve always leveraged your position in the public eye to bring attention to a host of marginalised communities. Since you are very active in terms of LGBTQ+ and feminist causes, how do you handle the current feeling that we’re almost going backwards sometimes with things like the overturning of Roe vs Wade?

I don’t really think that we’re going backwards as much as I feel like we are being reminded that the fight never ends. You have to go back and look at different civil rights movements — the black vote, women’s right to vote, etc — they never came easy. There’s no moment in politics where you can ever feel safe enough to let your guard down. No one should ever get comfortable but unfortunately, we do. We had the Obama years and things felt more relaxed than they had in a very long time. Then there was this incredible backlash [with Trump]. It’s all par of the course. I’m almost surprised the overturning of Roe vs Wade didn’t come sooner; it’s always been on the chopping block. But it’s incredibly scary for anyone with a uterus. This is healthcare; it’s a basic right that shouldn’t be questioned. We’ve never seen anything like this in our lifetime but shit happens to marginalised people every day. This is just such a big one because it affects such a large group of people. I think it’s been a wake-up call for all of us to never get too comfortable in our fight for our rights, our most basic rights. Yes, it’s exhausting and yes, it fucking sucks but it’s just where we are. Although honestly, I’m always dumbfounded by how much shit could be avoided if people just minded their own business. 

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Before getting into acting, you spent most of your career in music, with Gossip for 17 years, then your solo album in 2017. Do you see yourself returning to music in the near future?

Yeah, of course. Gossip just made a record and we’re working on that now. I keep getting different edits in for it. It’s done, we just need to find the time to get it out. I’ll never leave music; it’s the place I feel most at home. 

And to wrap things up, do you have any dream projects you’d love to work on?

All of my dream projects are funny. I feel like I’ve gotten to do so many things but I really love crafting and there are a few art projects I’d like to work on. I don’t know what I’d do with them, maybe something for charity. Just to take all these crazy projects I’ve done that I have closets full of, to put them somewhere, to do something with them. That’s what I’d like to do.

Interview Bec Oakes

Photographer Alexandra Arnold

Styling Emily Sanchez @ The Wall Group

Make Up Dmitry Kukushkin at Forward Artists

Hair Seiji at Forward Artists

Photography Assistant Coco Hubbeling

Special thanks to Studio 111 Brooklyn