The family of a tragic TV star have described the harrowing moment they found her body after her alleged suicide.
Miriam Rivera was the ‘world’s first transgender reality TV star’ but her death aged just 38 in 2019 remains shrouded in mystery.
The Mexican model appeared on the controversial British dating series There’s Something About Miriam in 2003 which centred around a cruel twist: Miriam could only tell the contestants she was transgender after the winner had been announced.
Channel 4 is exploring the fallout from the show in new documentary Miriam: Death Of A Reality Star, including Miriam’s sudden death at her mother’s apartment in Hermosillo, Mexico.
The final episode of the documentary, The Aftermath, shows her mother Maria and brother Paco recall the heartbreaking moment they realised she had died.
At the start of episode three, Paco appears in the documentary for the first time and relives the moment he travelled to the family home after news broke of his sister’s death.
Remembering, he told the documentary: ‘The whole drive took forever, thinking the same think over and over again, the possible causes, how, where?
‘The moment I walked in here, I saw my mum. She was already crying. But I couldn’t see the body.
‘She grabbed me and said, “Help me. I want to get her down”.
‘I don’t remember who helped me but two people grabbed her and we put here here in that place and we covered her with a sheet.’
Miriam’s mother Maria said she realised what had happened after finishing work. At around 3pm she went into the courtyard and found Miriam’s body.
She said: ‘Her face was beautiful, and her eyes. I spent a few hours with her.’
Mexican authorities held Miriam’s death as suicide and it was never investigated further.
However, both Paco and Maria believe there is more to the story than has so far been uncovered.
Paco said: ‘When they take it as a suicide they stop investigating. But to tell you the truth I still have doubts. I don’t think she could have done it by herself.’
Meanwhile Maria believes it ‘can’t be possible’ that her daughter died by suicide and believes others were involved.
Miriam’s husband Daniel Cuervo has also always insisted she was murdered.
In the documentary, he revealed that Miriam had contacted him on the day that she died to tell him she was coughing up blood, and he told her to go to hospital. But hours later he was told she had died, and it was claimed it was suicide.
Mr Cuervo has in the past told Daily Mail Australia that he believed his wife’s death may have been ‘passed off’ as a suicide after she refused to accept work as a prostitute.
When Mr Cuervo learned of Miriam’s death, he enquired about the possibility of flying the body to New York.
He was informed the body had already been cremated, leaving no opportunity to perform an autopsy.
Mr Cuervo claimed an unknown male called him when he was trying to arrange Miriam’s funeral and said: ‘Don’t come back to Mexico or we’ll kill you too.’
But Miriam’s other brother, Ariel, and her close friend Daniella Real both accept the official decision made about her death.
Real believed the reality show gave Miriam fame, which was negative and permanently harmed her. Meanwhile Ariel believes she was struggling with depression.
Daniella says in the documentary: ‘She was really upset. All the drugs, all the struggle, to come back to the same place without anything.
‘All the troubles of the past, they started coming to her. The sadness killed her.’
After There’s Something About Miriam aired, years of torture from the media and the public followed Miriam.
Criticism of the show included a comment from the British Medical Journal, which wrote: ‘The premise was not a celebration of transgender people’s lives.
‘It was designed to elicit horror from the winning contestant, discovering that his dream date had a penis.’
Miriam suffered with declining mental health after the show – and a terrible assault in 2007 damaged her confidence even further.
Her friends have previously spoken out about an assault in 2007 that saw Miriam be pushed out of the fourth-story window of her New York apartment. She later disappeared for six months, claiming she had been kidnapped at gunpoint.
Miriam spent most of her time after the attack in Europe, never again engaging in showbiz or music – which was her dream before – and instead getting caught up in the party scene.
She was, during this time, also understood to have taken up sex work to pay off hospital bills, which racked up.
There’s Something About Miriam ended up in huge controversy for Sky One, which broadcast the show in the UK – despite being a success at the time.
The Channel 4 documentary marks 20 years since the original reality show, and five years since Miriam’s death.
Sky later apologised and removed There’s Something About Miriam from its platforms.
The show was originally meant to air in November 2003 but legal proceedings stopped it airing until February 2004.
The six male contestants alleged conspiracy to commit sexual assault, defamation, breach of contract, and personal injury in the form of psychological and emotional damage.
Miriam: Death Of A Reality Star is available to watch now on Channel 4.
James Parker is a UK-based entertainment aficionado who delves into the glitz and glamour of the entertainment industry. From Hollywood to the West End, he offers readers an insider’s perspective on the world of movies, music, and pop culture.
