Take it from 'RuPaul's Drag Race' royalty Alyssa Edwards: 'Don’t dream it. Be it.'

Alyssa Edwards has a secret: she wasn't always this confident being queer.

"I was a very shy, introverted little gay boy," The "RuPaul's Drag Race" legend told "Good Morning America."

Before she served us pageant realness on Season 5 of "RuPaul's Drag Race" -- and later on Season 2 of "All Stars" -- Edwards was Justin Dwayne Lee Johnson, a self-conscious kid from Mesquite, Texas.

"I lived in a bubble," said Edwards. "I was a total mama's boy."

It was drag that helped Edwards find herself.

"I needed a creative outlet for myself so I invented this character, this Alyssa Edwards fantasy," she said. "I don't think I had an inkling of an idea as to what this character would blossom into."

Between performing as Alyssa, teaching dance at her highly competitive Beyond Belief Dance Company and filming the Netflix docuseries "Dancing Queen," the drag superstar found time to stop by "GMA" to spill the tea on her journey to fabulousness.

1. Don’t be afraid to explore.

Edwards had four words for this photo from her high school graduation:

"What in gay hell?"

Edwards recalls the end of high school as a special time in her life during which she started to venture out and explore life beyond Mesquite.

"At this point I was just about ready to spread my wings and fly," she said. "This was when I blossomed."

2. It’s okay to be a mama’s boy.

Edwards got her drop-dead gorgeous looks from her mama, Sherrie Johnson.

"You can totally see my mom in me," exclaimed Edwards.