Marybeth Ingram —aka Barbie, aka Gia — with her grandbabies
TAMMYE NASH | Managing Editor
Nash@DallasVoice.com
In 1997, when Marybeth “Barbie” Ingram won the title of Miss Fem Buddies, some responsibilities came along with the title. That included participating in benefits for people and organizations in the LGBTQ+ community. It was a responsibility she gladly accepted and enthusiastically fulfilled, helping raise hundreds, even thousands of dollars for charitable causes.
Now Marybeth, facing her third cancer diagnosis, is on the other end of the equation, and the community she helped so many times has the chance to show up to help her.
Sue Ellen’s presents Barbie’s Buddies Reunion, a benefit for Marybeth Ingram, featuring live music by The Bad Habits, from 4-7 p.m. on Sunday, Oct. 25.
This week as the benefit draws near, Marybeth sat down to answer a few questions for Dallas Voice about her time as a Buddies performer, her life as a mother and grandmother and the health challenges she faces.
Dallas Voice: Let’s start with when and how you found Buddies in the first place. Did you go with friends or with a date? Or maybe you just heard about the bar and decided to go in for a drink? What was it about the bar and the people that made you keep going there? And how did you become one of the Buddies family? Marybeth Ingram: I was the typical young gay teenager. I went to Sassy’s, Unicorn, North Forty, High Country. But then I found Buddies I. And I instantly felt like I fit in somewhere. I belonged.
By the time BUDDIES II came around, I felt like family. Little did I know that my entire future was right there in that building. The most precious things in my life started on that dance floor: 1997-1999 Miss Fem Buddies; in 1998 I met the donor for my son; in1998 they gave me a baby shower on the dance floor, and 70 people were there. I continued to do shows, emceeing while I was pregnant.
When did you start doing the shows at Buddies? Who were some of the regular performers then? Did you perform in the weekly shows, or did you focus mainly on benefit shows? I started doing shows in 1996 for Daddy [Sandy Meyers] and Rita Dillard. Every Wednesday night, regularly — we called it Open Mike night. I did shows with hundreds of beautiful drag queens — Beth, Val, Misty, Tammy Rowley, Jazzy, BJ and Anton, DeeDee Hart and so many more.
Then, in 1997, I was honored with the title of Miss Fem Buddies. It was part of my title to do benefits — AIDS, cancer, fire victims and always for the children. I was never a paid performer. I didn’t do it for that reason.
How did you get the nickname Barbie? Was that a “stage name” for the shows or did people already call you Barbie before you started doing the shows there? Daddy just started out calling me Barbie — big hair, dresses, long finger nails, overly girly. I guess she thought it fit. She went and bought the “Barbie” song [“Barbie Girl,” by Aqua] to play at the bar.
You kind of retired from the shows and the bar scene in general when you moved to the suburbs with your ex and had your son. Now your son is grown and has a wife and a child. Tell me a little about your family. After my son was born, I gave up my crown via live recording from my home.
That’s when everyone was introduced to Justice Orion, my reason for living. The new prince was finally here. They called him the Maple Street baby. The morning after his birth, 40 people came up to the hospital to see the new baby from Buddies.
In 2000, 73 people showed up to celebrate my son’s first birthday on the same dance floor where we had the baby shower, and where we did the shows. I felt like he belonged to all of us. It was all so perfect.
You did hundreds of benefit shows for other people at Buddies. Now this event, Barbie’s Buddies Reunion, is to help you in getting treatment for cancer. This is the third cancer diagnosis you have had, yes? Tell me about your different battles with cancer. I stepped away from the bar to raise my son. When he was 6 years old, three days before he started the first grade, I was diagnosed with cancer — multiple myeloma, a bone marrow cancer.
They gave me five to seven weeks to live. I told them that I had a son to raise and that timeline did not work for me. The doctor told me I’d have to live on heavy doses of several different chemos and fight like hell and that the treatments would eventually take their toll. So that’s what I did.
Then in 2025 I was diagnosed with my second cancer, malignant melanoma. And this year, I was told I had my third form of cancer, malignant basal carcinoma. I’m on one form of chemo 21 days straight, and I do mega-doses every other week.
I know it can’t be cured, but I’m not going to stop fighting. Yes, I’m getting tired. But I can’t leave my kids, my grandkids and Tracy, my partner.
You told me that you are looking forward to seeing people at the benefit that you haven’t seen in years, people you thought might not ever get to see again. What else are you hoping will happen with this event? I’m looking forward to the hugs and kisses, to laying my eyes on so many beautiful people who have created my life’s tapestry. I’m looking forward to the laughter, the smiles.
What else do you want to mention? Now, the best for last — my family, my purpose and my reason!
My son is grown, now almost 28 years old. I home-schooled him all 12 years because I didn’t know how much time I had. I put him in martial arts. He’s now a fourth degree blackbelt. He’s strong and handsome.
He married a beautiful little girl from Canada. They have given me two fabulous grandsons, ages 1 and 4. They call me Gia. And I have to mention my partner of six years, Tracy Fortner. I also met her at Buddies. She has held me up and laid down on the bathroom floor with me. She’s loved me even though loving someone like me is so very difficult.
I feel terrible about dragging my family through this cancer journey. My son has never had a day that he’s not been scared for me. I’d give anything to take that fear away from him. That hurts me worse than a thousand cancers.