Adam Daniel Guerra (born September 5, 1983),[2][3] known by his stage name Venus D-Lite, is an American drag performer, television personality and Madonna impersonator. He gained recognition for competing on the third season of RuPaul's Drag Race, and went viral with his appearance in a My Strange Addiction episode called "Addicted To Being Madonna" (2015).[4]
Guerra started performing as D-Lite (in a Marilyn Monroe impersonation) on August 5, 2002[8] and made his first television appearance on The Ricki Lake Show in 2003.[9] His drag name came from a combination of “Venus” (taken from “Venus Was Her Name”, a song by Shocking Blue), and “D-Lite”, a name thought of by Guerra's then-boyfriend and makeup artist of three years.[10] A fan of Madonna, he spent over $175,000 on 19 surgeries to look like her for his performances.[11] He was announced as a contestant on RuPaul's Drag Race season 3 on January 24, 2011.[12] He was eliminated in the first episode, after losing a lip sync to "The Right Stuff" by Vanessa Williams against Shangela, and placed thirteenth.[13] He did however make a guest appearance on the first episode of the fourth season.
On February 5, 2015, Drag Race winner Bianca Del Rio featured Venus in an episode of her WOWPresents web series "Really Queen?" where she made jokes about her.[18] Venus appeared in a reaction video on February 25 by WOW making jokes back at Del Rio.[19]
Guerra released his first single "I'm Not Madonna" featuring singer Jenn Cuneta on July 7, 2014, on a remix EP.[20] He collaborated with fellow Botched guests Toby Sheldon and Kitty Jay for the single "The Plastics", credited as a band of the same name.[21]
Personal life
Guerra is gay.[22] In 2021, he came out as HIV-positive in an interview with Joseph Shepherd.[23]
In June 2022, Venus made an Instagram post admitting that he was raped by a fellow Drag Race alum in 2013, one described as a “popular queen”, but refused to name the rapist.[24]