Cult Icon “The Goddess Bunny” Passes Away at 61

The trans cult icon Sandie Crisp, aka “The Goddess Bunny,” has passed away from COVID-19.

Emerging into the underground art scene of L.A. in the 80s, Crisp quickly became a star, known by her fans for her tap-dancing routines, dramatic performances, and all-around vibrant personality and confidence. Throughout her life, she was featured in many projects by well-known artists, including as a puppet in Dr. Dre’s “Puppet Master” music video and in Marilyn Manson’s “The Dope Show.” She also acted in Hollywood Vice Squad (1986) with Carrie Fisher.

Despite these successes, Crisp faced discrimination because of her disability, claiming that she usually wasn’t paid for her work. She told Vice, “I’m actually a very sad person because of how others take advantage of me because of my disability.” Her early life wasn’t any easier.

Born in 1960, Sandie Crisp contracted polio as an infant and underwent multiple botched surgeries that further damaged her growth and spine. She was in the foster-care system as a child, and in her self-directed documentary The Goddess Bunny, she describes being molested at many of the foster homes she lived in. As a teenager, Crisp began to recognize her transgender identity, but faced rejection from her mother.

In her later life, the Goddess resided in an assisted-care facility in California. There, she was visited by the young men she had come to call her sons, most frequently Hunter Ray Barker. Barker and the Goddess met in 2013 and became fast friends, even running for mayor of Inglewood together in 2014.

Barker, a filmmaker, created a tribute to the woman he considered his “mother in spirit,” entitled “A Love Letter To Hollywood Icon Goddess Bunny.” In the film, Barker says of the Goddess, “She’s a born entertainer, a song and dance show woman, a fox who’s had to out-perform tough luck, star-crossed fate, and the law.”

After Crisp’s death, Barker posted his film on Instagram with a caption describing his love for the Goddess. “For all of the strange kids who never felt like they had a place, the Goddess Bunny was a shining, glittering symbol of gorgeous hope. And one look at her beauty confirmed that her wild spirit was always so much greater than this life,” he wrote of the icon.

The Goddess is one of many lost too soon to the pandemic, but she still got a major sendoff.

Barker also started a GoFundMe for her funeral, in which he states, “One of her wishes was to be buried in the Hollywood Forever Cemetery as she wanted to be buried a star forever. In true Goddess fashion, she wanted to make sure the funeral was just as extravagant as she was.”

Photo courtesy of Sandie Crisp’s Facebook page.