Cheek was raised in Ramseur, North Carolina. Her mother died at a young age, and she is estranged from her father. She was raised by her grandmother.
In 2014, shortly after turning 18, Cheek's sister invited her to a drag show in Winston-Salem, North Carolina. Cheek has said of seeing his first drag show, “I saw the glamour of being able to do whatever you want to do.” Cheek said his drag name “came from a joke. It started out as a lot of men from my hometown are closeted and they would always try and get my goodies and whatnotries. I was like, ‘There’s no need to be hiding in the closet.’”
Cheek's participation as a cast member on season 12 of RuPaul’s Drag Race was announced on January 23, 2020. He is the third contestant on the show from North Carolina, following Victoria "Porkchop" Parker (Season 1) and Stacy Layne Matthews (Season 3), and had not previously auditioned for the show. Heidi experienced an allergic reaction on her first day of shooting, but finished safe. During the competition, RuPaul expressed disapproval with her name choice, stating during episode 10: "I don't know if you've heard the story, but she came here as Heidi N Closet. Rotten!" With each episode RuPaul refers to Heidi by different names, including Heidi Ho, Heidi N Seeky, Heidi Hydrates, and Heidi Afrodite. Despite this, Heidi revealed during the Season 12 reunion episode that she had decided to keep her name.

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