The Naked Truth About Louis Whitaker

INTERNATIONAL HEADLINER, LOUIS WHITAKER, HAS FOUND HIS WAY INTO THE HEART OF VALLARTA, BUT WHAT DO WE REALLY KNOW ABOUT THIS YOUNG CABARET SINGER

LOUIS WHITAKER IS BARING IT ALL AND UNDERNEATH I STILL SEE THE CHARISMATIC CHILDHOOD FRIEND WHO FELT DEDICATED TO HELPING OTHERS AND LIVED FOR PERFORMING.

When I first met Louis, we were both kids and he had a laser focus on one thing, becoming a pastor. This is no small feat, but ‘Whit’ as his friends called him, even then, knew how to tell a story. He could have told any type of story, but he wanted to perform for the greater good and saw a calling in Christianity. This may seem surprising, but for us, the only stage we knew was the one you went to every Sunday to hear the word of God. You’re going to find that Whit is always looking for a stage, trying them on for size and seeing if it’s the right fit. Sadly, when he came out, he never got a chance to go on that stage and he was shunned from his church. Never one to feel sorry for himself, Whitaker went out in the world and showed a new trait I had not seen in him before: grit.

At the beginning of the pandemic, Louis begins to interview sex workers for a policy report he is co-authoring for the ACLU and finds a welcoming community of performers, albeit a different type of performance than he was used to. As his financial resources dwindle, it becomes clear that he will need to figure out where his next stage lies, and he builds a digital one as a sex worker on OnlyFans (OF). It doesn’t take long before he reaches acclaim on OF and once again I see a satisfaction from Louis for finding a temporary stage from which he can catch his breath and plan his next moves. I don’t want to understate my friend’s metamorphosis from a straightlaced boy who blushed at the mention of a chaste kiss to a full-blown pornstar. Peel away the layers and you’ll still find a performer, but he outgrew his platform and was read for the next challenge.

Louis moves to Puerto Vallarta, Mexico for a fresh start where his only performance is that of first impressions as he lays roots in this queer paradise and begins to build a chosen family. The family he finds in Mexico see the same traits I’ve always known in him, but they also see his talent as a performer. Soon he is booking gigs at Act2PV, the largest theatre in Puerto Vallarta and before I know it he is headlining his own Broadway cabaret show. It seems like he has finally found his stage where his friends cheer him on, he sings the songs he loves, and he gets to live in a paradise most people only experience for a handful of days. This is only the beginning for my dear friend and I can already see that he has the drive to get to that gilded Broadway stage.

FOR MORE INFORMATION: WWW.THELOUISWHITAKER.COM Photographer: Daniel Cornejo