REMEMBERING MIRIAM

IN 2003 SHE STARRED IN A CONTROVERSIAL REALITY SHOW, BUT THAT APPEARANCE LED TO A SHOCK DOWNWARD SPIRAL

- Kylie Walters

When Miriam Rivera first appeared on screen in her 2004reality dating TV show, There’s Something About Miriam, her wide smile hid a secret that the six British male contestants – who were flown to a Spanish villa to win the heart of the 21-year-old Mexican model – knew nothing about. Viewers were quickly let in on the joke – Rivera was a transgender woman.

It was a shock twist that was only revealed to the guys in a dramatic finale when Rivera had whittled them down to one – Tom Rooke, a then-23-year-old lifeguard whom she hoped to sail off into the sunset with. If Rooke agreed to board the yacht with her for a private vacation, he’d be rewarded with a $20,000 prize.

“Tom, I really love spending time with you and kissing you,” Rivera began her confession on a sun-drenched balcony overlooking the ocean. “You see, I love men, and I love being a woman. But … shh, quiet everybody, please, quiet. But you see, Tom … I am not a woman. I was born as a man,” she explained as the other contestants laughed.

The dramatic conclusion to her search for love and acceptance was just the start of Rivera’s story. In the months – and years – that followed, she would go on a downward spiral that would ultimately lead to her untimely death in early 2019, at just 38.

Trans actress Trace Lysette is looking back at the life of her friend, examining Rivera’s rise to fame, public humiliation, and fall from grace in a six-part podcast series, Harsh Reality: The Story of Miriam Rivera. The series also explores the exploitative effect the show had on the trans community.