A Midwestern teen who became a major player in New York City high society in the 2000s after starting an anonymous blog documenting the lives of Manhattan’s elite has come out as a trans woman.
Morgan Olivia Rose, who was labeled male at birth and known as James Kurisunkal, talks about her time leading Park Avenue Peerage, which she started in 2007, in Hulu’s Queenmaker: The Making of An It Girl and reveals her transition after years of ‘pain’, thus Page six.
“Now that I’m older, I see how two different people existed. One that was James, and one that was me,” she says in the documentary, according to the publication.
On her Facebook account, Morgan wrote after the news broke, “The cat is out of the bag! Or should I say, I’m finally free to be myself.
In 2007, Morgan Olivia Rose (now pictured), who was designated male at birth and known as James Kurisunkal, began Park Avenue Peerage in 2007 as a college student
The blogger is pictured here with Tinsley Mortimer in 2007
Years and years ago I lived in constant pain, turmoil and disgust – to the point that suicide was a daily desire because I lived in my own skin as someone who wasn’t “me” – through years of transition I emerge as Morgan Olivia Rose .
“It wasn’t a transformation per se, but a transition from being dead yet alive… to now, fully alive and truly myself.”
Earlier on her Instagram stories, she also shared a May 14, 2021 memory of her time filming Queenmaker.
After being revealed as the blogger behind Park Avenue Peerage, she went to work as a paid summer intern for New York magazine, according to a 2007 story in The New York Times.
At the time, Morgan was attending the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign and was a sophomore majoring in English or Sociology.
“I am really a freshman at the University of Illinois updating this website from my dorm room,” she wrote on her blog when her identity was discovered by a New York magazine reporter.
“I live next to cornfields and soybeans and my desktop is open with party photos of Anchor and Marquee. I know.’
Along with Morgan, former Real Housewives of New York City star Tinsley Mortimer and socialite-turned-fashion influencer Olivia Palermo also appear in Queenmaker.
On her Facebook account, Morgan wrote after the news broke, “The cat is out of the bag! Or should I say, I’m finally free to be myself’
Morgan (pictured) appears in the documentary alongside Tinsley and socialite fashion influencer Olivia Palermo
In the documentary, Tinsley breaks down in tears as she talks about the dark side of early 2000s socialite culture.
“At the time, New York felt very thriving, and it was just a crazy, over-the-top world,” she recalls. “All these photographers, I remember thinking, ‘I want to be a part of this. This looks cool.'”
Tinsley, now 47, followed in the footsteps of heirs Paris and Nicky Hilton, who were just teenagers when they were called the “smallest socialites in town” in a profile published by The New Yorker in 1999.
In the documentary’s trailer, celebrity photographer Patrick McMullen gets partial credit for turning the socialite sisters into celebrities.
“I kind of invented the Hilton sisters,” he says to clarify, “Well, I taught them how to pose. People realize the power of images.’
During her time at the head of Park Avenue Peerage (pictured is a screenshot from the blog), Morgan attended the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign
A number of socialites, photographers, gossip bloggers and publicists were interviewed for the documentary, including renowned publicist R. Couri Hay.
“When I met Tinsley Mortimer, we were at a party,” he recalls.
“I said, ‘It’s about being in the right dress at the right time.'”
In a 2017 City & Country profile, the publicist describes how he helped her become an It Girl by getting her to quit her job as an event planner and join committees at the American Museum of Natural History and the Central Park Zoo.
Tinsley, married at the time to oil heir Topper Mortimer, is described as “[dropping] on the scene as a bombshell’ by an interviewee in the documentary.
“It was fun until it just stopped being fun,” she says of her social status.
In 2007, Tinsley was constantly photographed in New York City. She had designed a handbag line for Samantha Thavasa and had her own lip gloss color for Dior: Tinsley Pink.
Queenmaker: The Making of an It Girl premieres on Hulu on May 17.