When reality star Miriam Rivera died in 2019 at the age of 38, authorities claimed it was a “suicide,” but her husband Daniel Cuervo insisted she was murdered.
Miriam had risen to fame thirteen years earlier on the British reality show There’s Something About Miriam.
The Sky One show was one of the most controversial reality shows of the early 2000s: six male contestants tried to woo Miriam for a £10,000 prize, but were only told at the end of the show that she was transgender.
After the show, Miriam was harassed by the media and suffered a deterioration in her mental health.
Her husband Daniel, who friends say recently died, insisted that people were after her and that she was murdered.
Miriam Rivera’s husband, Daniel Cuervo, always insisted that she was murdered in the years after her death.
However, in the new Channel 4 documentary, Miriam: Death Of A Reality star, her friends and family expressed their doubts about Mr Crow’s character, calling him a “strange person”.
Cuervo, a real estate worker with apartments in New York, met Miriam in her native Mexico when she was 16 and had known her for more than 20 years.
In a 2021 interview, he described himself as “much older” and said they were initially just friends. Later, he did not specify when, she became his girlfriend.
But in the documentary, Miriam’s brother, Ariel Mendoza, only described him as a long-time “friend” of his.
He said: ‘Daniel Cuervo was a friend of Miriam for a long time.
But he was also that kind of strange person. Colombian boy, much older than Miriam. He loves transgender women.
Miriam’s friend Daniella Real also suggested that the couple were just friends and not a married couple.
He was in love with Miriam. She loved him, of course, but not the way Daniel wanted.
Following Miriam’s death, Daniel posted a heartbroken tribute to her on Facebook, writing: “My lovely wife, rest in peace darling until God allows us to be together again.”
Although his family and friends did not reference his marriage in the documentary, Daniel posted photos of his wedding on February 9, 2019, just four days after his death. It is not clear when the wedding took place.
Mr. Cuervo was a real estate worker with properties in New York. In the Channel 4 documentary it was said that he died recently
Cuervo posted photos of his ‘wedding day’ with Miriam on Facebook after she died
Cuervo had known Miriam for more than 20 years, when she was only 16 years old.
Meanwhile, Miriam had changed her name on the platform to include her last name, and they returned to Mexico together after passing through New York and Las Vegas, according to Cosmopolitan.
Miriam’s friend Nikki Exotica said she “couldn’t stand it” but could “understand” her side of the story.
Daniel said Miriam had been involved with a mafia in New York and Las Vegas.
In the documentary he revealed that Miriam had contacted him on the day of her death to tell him she was coughing up blood and he told her to go to the hospital. But hours later they told him she had died and claimed she had committed suicide.
Cuervo previously told WhatsNew2Day Australia he believed his wife’s death could have been “passed off” as a suicide after she refused to take a job as a prostitute.
When Mr. Cuervo learned of Miriam’s death, he asked about the possibility of transporting the body by plane to New York.
He was informed that the body had already been cremated, so there was no opportunity to perform an autopsy.
Cuervo claimed that an unknown man called him when he was trying to organize Miriam’s funeral and told him: “Don’t go back to Mexico or we will kill you too.”
At the time of his death, Cuervo paid tribute to his ‘adorable wife’ on Facebook
Miriam’s brother, Ariel, referred to Daniel as his “long-time friend” and said he was a “weird person.”
In the documentary, he said, “I want to make sure everyone knows that there is no way she could have committed suicide.”
But Miriam’s brother, Ariel, and her close friend Daniella Real accept the official decision about her death: that she committed suicide.
Real believed that the reality show gave Miriam fame, which was negative and permanently damaged her. Meanwhile, Ariel believes that she was struggling with depression.
Miriam suffered a deterioration in her mental health after the show and a horrific assault in 2007 further damaged her confidence.
Friends have previously spoken about an assault in 2007 in which Miriam was pushed out of the fourth-floor window of her New York apartment. She subsequently disappeared for six months, claiming that she had been kidnapped at gunpoint.
Miriam spent most of her time after the attack in Europe, never getting involved in showbiz or music again (which was her dream before) and instead getting caught up in the party scene.
During this time, it was also understood that she had taken up sex work to pay her hospital bills, which were piling up.
There’s Something About Miriam ended in major controversy for Sky One, which broadcast the show in the UK, despite it being a hit at the time.
Miriam appeared on Sky’s controversial dating show, There’s Something About Miriam, where she did not reveal that she was transgender until the end. She was only 21 years old at the time.
Sky later removed There’s Something About Miriam from its platforms and apologized.
New Channel 4 documentary Miriam: Death Of A Reality Star explores her life and rise to fame in more detail
The Channel 4 documentary marks 20 years of the original reality show and five years since Miriam’s death.
Sky later apologized and removed There’s Something About Miriam from her platforms.
The show was originally scheduled to air in November 2003, but legal proceedings prevented it from 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 harm.
Miriam: Death Of A Reality Star is now available to watch on Channel 4.
