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The 9-Year-Old "Vogue Boy," Then And Now

A viral video star 24 years in the making.

A vintage video of an eager 9-year-old boy voguing to Madonna's "Vogue," has gone viral again, now that now-grown star has come forward to share his story.

IXDaily tracked Robert Jeffrey, a lifelong Madonna fan and openly gay man who says he "put his all" into the performance back in 1991.

"I was never very well coordinated and I always lacked rhythm, so I wasn’t really a dancer, per se. But I wanted to be a performer, and I didn’t really think in terms of gender roles," says Jeffrey.

"And there was no living performer who could excite and inspire me to the extent that Madonna could. And, incidentally, that is still the case."

Jeffrey could easily be embarrassed by his childhood fixation, but he's been overjoyed by the outpouring of support both he and the video have received.

"A recurring theme in the comments, which still resonates the most with me, was that I probably came from a very loving and supportive household. No one could know whether I had parents, or how many, but most of the people commenting theorized that I was raised by people who loved me enough to only ever encourage me to be myself, through and through, no matter what," he explained.

"To be the recipient of such kindness and warmth and love from people all over the world when that video went viral, all those years later, was blissfully surreal. But knowing that my mother and father were reading the comments was the best part of my experience."

Despite the confidence he exudes in the homemade music video, Jeffrey identifies as being on the autistic spectrum, and was recently diagnosed with Asperger's Syndrome.

"At that age, I often felt shy and awkward and insecure, yet most people remember me as having been friendly and outgoing because I worked hard to seem that way," he remembers. "Somehow, pulling that off came much easier to me as a child. And if I was in front of the camera or on the stage, I could do anything."

Follow Robert Jeffrey's modern-day adventures on his personal blog.

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