WHAT REALLY HAPPENED TO MIRIAM?

FIVE YEARS AFTER THE TRANSGENDER REALITY STAR DIED, QUESTIONS REMAIN

- Kylie Walters

Headlining her own show in 2004, Miriam Rivera was both fearless and groundbreaking as the first transgender star on reality TV. But she was also widely mocked, heavily exploited and went on to pay a steep price for her fame.

Fifteen years after There’s Something About Miriam aired on Sky in the UK, Miriam was found dead at her Mexico home under suspicious circumstances. Local police labelled it as a suicide at the time, but five years on, those who loved her best still question whether something more sinister took place on that day in February 2019.

“When they take it as a suicide they stop investigating,” her brother Paco told the new documentary Miriam: Death of a Reality Star. “But to tell you the truth, I still have doubts. I don’t think she could have done it by herself.”

Miriam had longed to be famous. After being scouted for an all-trans girl band called Speed Angels, she was noticed by TV producer Remy Blumenfeld who cast her in a new British TV project. The reality dating program was much like the US series,