Close friends of The Vivienne are set to honour her by running the London Marathon on Sunday, April 27.
Drag Race UK star Kitty Scott-Claus and G-A-Y owner Jeremy Joseph are taking on the challenge and keeping The Vivienne’s memory alive by raising funds for four charities, one of which was particularly close to her heart.
The Vivienne, whose real name was James Lee Williams, died on January 5 at the age of 32.
The LGBTQ+ community was left reeling from the tragedy, with heartbroken tributes pouring in from fans and friends.
Now, Jeremy and Kitty are running the London Marathon in aid of The Vivienne, raising money for Liverpudlian charity Sahir House, which The Viv advocated for, as well as London Friend: Antidote, Pancreatic Cancer UK and the national LGTBQIA+ support line Switchboard.
Ahead of Sunday’s event, the pair spoke to Metro about why it means so much to them to be doing it in aid of her, with Jeremy explaining how he wants to ‘make something right’ after The Vivienne’s death.
Having agreed to join Jeremy on what would be his 15th London Marathon, Kitty explained they began training in January, shortly before the untimely death of The Vivienne.
She said: ‘It came to January when we started doing the long-distance, actual marathon training, when we were deciding who we were going to run for, that’s when we had the untimely passing of The Vivienne, and it felt like it was just such a natural thing to choose the charity that Viv has supported and championed, Sahir House, and to do this in Viv’s honour to run for a charity that she believed in is incredible. It felt like a no-brainer.’
Jeremy quipped that every year while running the first few dreaded miles he vows he’d never do it again, questioning why he’s put himself back in the same position, but by the end is ready to take on next year’s challenge, and this year feels particularly poignant.
The pair are running for the G-A-Y foundation, hoping to raise a total of £50,000 to split equally between the four charities.
Revealing how he felt after The Vivienne’s death, and echoing Kitty’s comments that it was a ‘no-brainer’ to do it in her honour, Jeremy shared: ‘You feel so useless when you lose someone, but it just felt like I want to do something, I want to make something right.
‘There’s no sense in losing someone so early on in their lives, nothing made sense at the time and this made sense.
‘It felt completely right… it was about keeping The Vivienne’s memory alive. It was about running for her.’
He added that he had once asked The Vivienne to run the London Marathon with him after her stint on Dancing On Ice, but she turned down the offer.
‘It would have been a dream to have done it with her but it just felt completely right, Sahir House means so much to The Vivienne, London Friend Antidote is all about helping people with addiction and Switchboard is a helpline available for everybody across the country and it’s so important to have that,’ he said.
‘And it’s great because we’re still talking about her right now, and that’s the most important thing.’
Jeremy gave the proposition to Kitty during last year’s Marathon on Rainbow Row, the 21st mile which represents the LGBTQ+ community, which he calls the ‘highlight of the whole London Marathon’.
If The Vivienne knew what they were doing now, in aid of her, Kitty laughed that she’d think they were ‘crazy’.
‘She’d go, “Girl you’re crazy!” She’d literally be like, “I would never do it!”’ she said.
Jeremy added: ‘She’d go mad, and I’d be going, “But I want to do it with you,” and she’ll go, “Yeah maybe I’ll do it next year,” and then she won’t pick up the phone to me!’
Kitty continued: ‘She’s the biggest supporter and the biggest cheerleader for all of us, she would be so, so proud and she’d love that her name is still out there, she’d be like, “Yes come on”.’
The Vivienne’s family and friends aren’t alone in supporting Kitty and Jeremy for the marathon, and while they’re keeping her memory alive through sharing stories of to the two runners during their training, The Viv’s legacy is continuing through the work she did for Sahir House.
‘Sahir House has been reaching out a lot as well, they’re so happy that we’re doing it, they keep posting, they keep sharing, they keep sending comments, so it’s really amazing to have their support, and it’s good to be able to at a time where a lot of the smaller charities are being put to the wayside,’ Jeremy said.
‘It is a lot harder now to raise money in a cost of living crisis, and the smaller charities are the ones that are losing out the most, so to be able to raise the profile of a smaller charity at the moment is so amazing.
‘That’s something The Viv has done, a lot of people outside Liverpool would not know about Sahir House, but now thanks to The Viv, people now across the country will know about it.’
Not only is there a cost of living crisis, but the nation has been impacted from the UK Supreme Court ruling unanimously infavour of the legal challenge brought by For Women Scotland stating the definitions of ‘sex’ and ‘woman’ in Equality Act 2010 refer to ‘biological sex’.
While transpeople are still protected from discrimination under the same law, transwomen with gender certificates could now be barred from single-sex areas.
When asked about the importance of raising awareness for their charities now more than ever, Kitty shared: ‘I think especially with LGBT Switchboard, now more than ever it shows how important it is to have a service like that ready for everybody, especially after the dreadful news [of the ruling], which breaks my heart and literally feels like we’re in a dystopian universe.
‘It’s like, how is this real life? We’re in 2025, what the actual bloody hell is going on? But the fact that there are services like that out there, and are so fantastic in what they do and so here for people, the fact that we can shine a light on them makes it all the more worthwhile.’
Jeremy added: ‘It’s shocking to think that our Prime Minister used to be a human rights lawyer, and look at where we are today, we’re moving backwards, and I think this now shows the importance of LGBT charities, LGBT venues, LGBT people speaking out.’
Citing the importance of charities like Switchboard after his own experience using them, he continued: ‘If you think about the younger generation now who thought that they were coming into a world where they could actually be who they are, and now they’re being taken backwards, they need people to talk to, they need people’s support, they need to know that they have human rights.
‘And it’s so important now that we are all there for them, literally by speaking out and being there and being seen.
‘This is why Rainbow Row on the London Marathon is so important, for example. The fact that the BBC will be filming there, the fact that it’s going to be so many people from across the world, 50,000 people will be running through Rainbow Row.
‘We can get a message of support across to everybody to let them know that we are equal, we are human, and we are going to fight. So this is so important right now, more than ever.’
He went on: ‘I think the thing is, it’s shocking because if we’re not careful, in three years’ time, what is happening in America is going to get even worse here if we allow Reform to grow and do what’s going on in America, and it’s already happening by the court case.
‘We need to be here, we need to be visible, and we need to be fighting. And if anyone asks why we need Pride right now, this is the exact reason.’
Running in aid of The Vivienne is pushing even more motivation behind the pair, despite battling the weather through training and warnings of toenails falling off and nipples chafing.
When asked how important it is that they’re keeping her legacy alive in this way, Jeremy said: ‘It’s absolutely everything. The Viv was everything, She was there for me, we were there for each other during Covid, we worked together.
‘She was just the most amazing person and when you lose a friend, that’s what you want to do.
‘You feel a guilt when you lose someone, and you feel a guilt when life just carries on and I think that was the hardest thing… you feel guilty because you’re carrying on, so now this is so important.’
‘She needs to be a part of our lives forever and she achieved so much, and people should never forget that, and as friends, that’s our responsibility to keep her memory alive.’
Kitty added: ‘I think she was just the biggest cheerleader for especially the Drag Race UK girls. She was like the older sister to all of us.
‘It was like, no matter what we were going through, you could turn to The Viv for advice, you could ask her opinion, you could do whatever. She was always there. She was always an ear to listen to whatever you were going through, and she was just the best.’
Recalling her incredible list of achievements in bringing Drag into mainstream TV and even taking on America, Jeremy added: ‘Her memory needs to be carried on, we should never forget.
‘Everybody who does something now helps the next generation of Queens coming forward and so she’ll never be forgotten.
‘She is, and will always be, our first UK Drag Race winner. She is the first winner. That is history.’
For the first time, Kitty is going to be stopping during the marathon at Rainbow Row, and performing a version of Heather Small’s Proud before continuing with their run.
She and Jeremy will be joined by several Drag Queens performing and hosting there, with fans urged to share their support for the LGBTQ+ community and honour The Vivienne.
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Training for the marathon has personally helped them both deal with their grief after The Vivienne’s death, with Kitty recalling how their first run together felt like ‘a weight had been lifted’ to be able to ‘escape’ the real world for hours.
Thinking of how proud The Vivienne would be as they get to the end of the London Marathon, Kitty said: ‘She’d be there cracking open the prosecco.’
But Jeremy laughed, replying: ‘No she wouldn’t! It would be in the morning, she’d be in bed! She’ll message me from bed going, “Oh well done girl! I’m just getting up now!”’
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