Drag artist says George Santos left Brazil in 2005 and returned in 2008 'with money' to compete and lose in Miss Gay Rio de Janeiro

• Embattled Rep. George Santos once wanted to be Miss Gay Rio De Janeiro, a drag artist told Insider.
• But he lost the pageant in 2008, Eula Rochard said in an interview.
• Santos now faces scrutiny over multiple fabrications about his past.

Rep. George Santos once wanted to be Miss Gay Rio De Janeiro. But that title wasn't in the cards for his admittedly embellished resume, drag artist Eula Rochard told Insider.

The New York Republican, who has embraced ultra-conservative positions considered anti-LGBTQ, competed in the contest in 2008, said Rochard, who says she knew him in Brazil.

"But he lost," Rochard said in Portuguese. "Because when I say 'beauty pageant,' what do you think? A skinny, tall woman with long hair. Super beautiful. And it's the same for the gay ones."

"The beauty pageant is for boys who dress like women," she continued. "They are beautiful. The boys are beautiful. And he lost because he was fat."

Santos' staff did not respond to a request for comment.

Santos, now facing scrutiny about his multiple fabrications about his past, at first denied that he performed as a drag queen. But he later told reporters, "I was young, and I had fun at a festival. Sue me for having a life." More videos have since emerged, suggesting it was more than a one-off.

Reuters reported that Santos "aspired to be Miss Gay Rio de Janeiro."

Rochard, who made headlines after circulating a photo she says is of Santos in a red dress, said Santos wasn't a professional drag queen. But he would occasionally dress up.

She identified Santos dressed in drag in a video at about the 4:20 mark from the 2005 Niterói pride parade, where he tells a reporter about clubs where he performed drag shows.

Rochard said that was a lie because, at the time Santos wouldn't have been able to afford such performances.

"When you work with this you spend a lot of money. Anthony wouldn't do this," she said, using an alias for Santos. 

Though he bragged about his father being rich, his mother was a maid in Brazil, Rochard said.

"He was a big dreamer," Rochard. "He wanted to get famous no matter what."

Santos left Brazil in 2005 and returned in 2008 "with a lot of money," Rochard said. "He got a bunch of expensive drag outfits made" and competed in the beauty pageant.

"These beauty pageants are very valued here in Brazil," she said. "The gay ones. I don't know how it is in the US but gay people here go crazy for them and order expensive outfits. It's very expensive."

Rochard, who met Santos when he was about 17 years old, said she used to catch Santos in "little white lies."

"He wasn't a bad person," Rochard said. "He was a regular gay teenager in a country where there were no laws protecting gay people."

Rochard said she hasn't seen Santos since 2008. "I don't know what happened in his life," she said. "I'm only telling you what I lived."