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Miriam (entertainer)
Encyclopedia
Miriam Rivera is a Mexican
transsexual woman who appeared on the reality television
shows There's Something About Miriam
and Big Brother Australia 2004. Miriam has also worked as an adult model under the name Victoria and as a non-adult model.
dolls. Miriam says strangers assumed she was a girl:
Miriam said she soon started taking hormones. She told reporters she came out
after being suspended from school at age 12, and her family was supportive. After not fitting in at a new school, Miriam says she ran away at age 14 and spent six months working at a strip club. She says that when her mother found her, she suggested Miriam live with a relative in America, where she says she attended Hollywood High School
from the age of 15. She told reporters that after she was outed
there, she moved to New York
to live with her uncle and started work in her uncle's real estate agency.
In 1999 Miriam posed for a transsexual photography website and performed under the name Victoria in several pornographic videos produced by Androgeny Productions and released starting in 2000.
She was filmed in Ibiza
for There's Something About Miriam
in 2003, but the show's airdate was delayed until 2004, following out-of-court settlement of litigation by the contestants. Miriam enjoyed the attention she got following the show. After the good ratings for There's Something About Miriam, she was cast as a guest visitor on Big Brother Australia 2004, also produced by Endemol
. A documentary about her life was commissioned but not aired.
She has stated she does not plan to have sex reassignment surgery
, citing concerns about complications or loss of sensation. "My mother always says to me, 'Why would you want to be half-and-half? Why don't you want to be a complete woman?' But I just love myself and I'm really enjoying my life."
The New York Post reported that Miriam was seriously injured in spring 2007 when she was thrown out of a third-story window at her home. Miriam later told reporters she fell out of a fourth-story window while trying to escape a burglar.
In 2008 she was a special guest Ewa Drzyzga
's TVN
show Rozmowy w toku in Poland
. In a 2010 interview, Miriam told a British tabloid she was working as an escort in the London area. Miriam is now living and working in Valencia, Spain.
Mexico
The United Mexican States , commonly known as Mexico , is a federal constitutional republic in North America. It is bordered on the north by the United States; on the south and west by the Pacific Ocean; on the southeast by Guatemala, Belize, and the Caribbean Sea; and on the east by the Gulf of...
transsexual woman who appeared on the reality television
Reality television
Reality television is a genre of television programming that presents purportedly unscripted dramatic or humorous situations, documents actual events, and usually features ordinary people instead of professional actors, sometimes in a contest or other situation where a prize is awarded...
shows There's Something About Miriam
There's Something About Miriam
There's Something About Miriam is a reality television show filmed in 2003, created by British TV producer Remy Blumenfeld and originally aired in the United Kingdom on Sky1 in February 2004...
and Big Brother Australia 2004. Miriam has also worked as an adult model under the name Victoria and as a non-adult model.
Life and career
Miriam told Sun reporter Emily Smith she was born in Mexico and wanted to be a girl by age four. She said while her three brothers liked baseball, Miriam preferred BarbieBarbie
Barbie is a fashion doll manufactured by the American toy-company Mattel, Inc. and launched in March 1959. American businesswoman Ruth Handler is credited with the creation of the doll using a German doll called Bild Lilli as her inspiration....
dolls. Miriam says strangers assumed she was a girl:
They used to come to my mother and say, "Oh you have a beautiful daughter," and my mother used to say "That's my son," and I used to get angry. And I have always been attracted to men. When I was 11 I met someone who's gay and start talking to me about hormones, which I got very interested in.
Miriam said she soon started taking hormones. She told reporters she came out
Coming out
Coming out is a figure of speech for lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender people's disclosure of their sexual orientation and/or gender identity....
after being suspended from school at age 12, and her family was supportive. After not fitting in at a new school, Miriam says she ran away at age 14 and spent six months working at a strip club. She says that when her mother found her, she suggested Miriam live with a relative in America, where she says she attended Hollywood High School
Hollywood High School
Hollywood High School is a Los Angeles Unified School District high school located at the intersection of North Highland Avenue and West Sunset Boulevard in the Hollywood district of Los Angeles, California.-History:...
from the age of 15. She told reporters that after she was outed
Outing
Outing is the act of disclosing a gay, lesbian, bisexual or transgender person's true sexual orientation or gender identity without that person's consent. Outing gives rise to issues of privacy, choice, hypocrisy, and harm in addition to sparking debate on what constitutes common good in efforts...
there, she moved to New York
New York
New York is a state in the Northeastern region of the United States. It is the nation's third most populous state. New York is bordered by New Jersey and Pennsylvania to the south, and by Connecticut, Massachusetts and Vermont to the east...
to live with her uncle and started work in her uncle's real estate agency.
In 1999 Miriam posed for a transsexual photography website and performed under the name Victoria in several pornographic videos produced by Androgeny Productions and released starting in 2000.
She was filmed in Ibiza
Ibiza
Ibiza or Eivissa is a Spanish island in the Mediterranean Sea 79 km off the coast of the city of Valencia in Spain. It is the third largest of the Balearic Islands, an autonomous community of Spain. With Formentera, it is one of the two Pine Islands or Pityuses. Its largest cities are Ibiza...
for There's Something About Miriam
There's Something About Miriam
There's Something About Miriam is a reality television show filmed in 2003, created by British TV producer Remy Blumenfeld and originally aired in the United Kingdom on Sky1 in February 2004...
in 2003, but the show's airdate was delayed until 2004, following out-of-court settlement of litigation by the contestants. Miriam enjoyed the attention she got following the show. After the good ratings for There's Something About Miriam, she was cast as a guest visitor on Big Brother Australia 2004, also produced by Endemol
Endemol
Endemol is an international television production and distribution company based in the Netherlands, with subsidiaries and joint ventures in 23 countries, including the United Kingdom, the United States, France, Mexico, Spain, Italy, Germany, Brazil, Chile, Argentina, Dominican Republic, Poland,...
. A documentary about her life was commissioned but not aired.
She has stated she does not plan to have sex reassignment surgery
Sex reassignment surgery
Sex reassignment surgery is a term for the surgical procedures by which a person's physical appearance and function of their existing sexual characteristics are altered to resemble...
, citing concerns about complications or loss of sensation. "My mother always says to me, 'Why would you want to be half-and-half? Why don't you want to be a complete woman?' But I just love myself and I'm really enjoying my life."
The New York Post reported that Miriam was seriously injured in spring 2007 when she was thrown out of a third-story window at her home. Miriam later told reporters she fell out of a fourth-story window while trying to escape a burglar.
In 2008 she was a special guest Ewa Drzyzga
Ewa Drzyzga
Ewa Drzyzga is a Polish journalist and TV presenter, who hosts talk-show Rozmowy w Toku on TVN.. , Gazeta.pl...
's TVN
TVN (Poland)
TVN is a major Polish commercial television network. The broadcaster was co-founded by Polish businessmen Mariusz Walter and Jan Wejchert. The network launched on October 3, 1997. TVN belongs to the TVN S.A...
show Rozmowy w toku in Poland
Poland
Poland , officially the Republic of Poland , is a country in Central Europe bordered by Germany to the west; the Czech Republic and Slovakia to the south; Ukraine, Belarus and Lithuania to the east; and the Baltic Sea and Kaliningrad Oblast, a Russian exclave, to the north...
. In a 2010 interview, Miriam told a British tabloid she was working as an escort in the London area. Miriam is now living and working in Valencia, Spain.
Filmography
- Transsexual Beauty Queens 9 (2000, Androgeny Productions)
- Transsexual Beauty Queens 10 (2002, Androgeny Productions)
- There's Something About MiriamThere's Something About MiriamThere's Something About Miriam is a reality television show filmed in 2003, created by British TV producer Remy Blumenfeld and originally aired in the United Kingdom on Sky1 in February 2004...
(2003, Brighter Pictures) - Big Brother Australia 2004 (2004, EndemolEndemolEndemol is an international television production and distribution company based in the Netherlands, with subsidiaries and joint ventures in 23 countries, including the United Kingdom, the United States, France, Mexico, Spain, Italy, Germany, Brazil, Chile, Argentina, Dominican Republic, Poland,...
) - Transsexual Celebrity Look-A-Likes 2 (2005, Androgeny Productions)
- Transsexual Beauty Queens Unleashed (2005, Androgeny Productions)
- Transsexual Beauty Queens Superstars Volume 1 (2005, Androgeny, Productions)
- There's Something Extra Special About Miriam (2008, Avalon)
External links
- Miriam's old official site via Internet ArchiveInternet ArchiveThe Internet Archive is a non-profit digital library with the stated mission of "universal access to all knowledge". It offers permanent storage and access to collections of digitized materials, including websites, music, moving images, and nearly 3 million public domain books. The Internet Archive...
(online April - September 2004)