Inside the mystery of Miriam Rivera’s ‘marriage’: Loved ones say ‘much older’ man who claimed to be married to world’s first transgender reality star after meeting her as a teenager was a ‘freaky person’

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 become famous thirteen years earlier in the British reality show There’s Something About Miriam.

The Sky One program was one of the most controversial reality shows of the early 2000s, when six male contestants tried to convince Miriam for a £10,000 prize, only to be told she was transgender at the end of the show .

After the show, Miriam was hounded by the media and suffered from declining mental health.

Her husband Daniel, whose friends recently died, insisted that people were after her and that she had been murdered.

However, in Channel 4’s new documentary Miriam: Death Of A Reality, her friends and family expressed doubts about Mr Cuervo’s character, calling him a ‘freaky person’.

Mr. Cuervo, a real estate executive with apartments in New York, met Miriam in her home country of Mexico when she was 16 years old and had known her for more than 20 years.

In a 2021 interview, he described himself as “much older” and said they were just friends at first. Later – he did not specify when – she became his girlfriend.

But in the documentary, Miriam’s brother Ariel Mendoza described him only as a long-term “friend” of hers.

He said, “Daniel Cuervo, he was a friend of Miriam for a long time.

“But he was also such a scary person. Colombian man, much older than Miriam. He likes transgender women.”

Miriam’s girlfriend, Daniella Real, also suggested the pair were just friends rather than a married couple.

‘He was in love with Mirjam. She loved him, of course, but not in the way Daniel wanted.”

After Miriam’s death, Daniel posted a heartbroken tribute to her on Facebook, writing: “My adorable wife, rest in peace darling until God lets us be together again.”

Although her family and friends made no reference to their wedding in the documentary, Daniel had posted photos of their wedding on February 9, 2019 – just four days after her death. It is unclear when the wedding took place.

Meanwhile, Miriam had changed her name on the platform to include his last name, and they returned to Mexico together after stints in New York and Vegas, according to Cosmopolitan.

Miriam’s friend Nikki Exotica said she “couldn’t stand him” but “understood” his side of the story.

Daniel said Miriam had been involved in a gang in New York and Las Vegas.

In the documentary he revealed that Miriam contacted him on the day 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 a suicide.

Mr Cuervo has told Daily Mail Australia in the past that he believed his wife’s death was “mistaken as a suicide” after she refused to accept work as a prostitute.

When Mr. Cuervo heard of Miriam’s death, he inquired about the possibility of flying the body to New York.

He was told that the body had already been cremated, leaving no way to perform an autopsy.

Mr. Cuervo claimed that an unknown man called him while trying to arrange Miriam’s funeral and said, “Don’t come back to Mexico or we will kill you too.”

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 both accept the official ruling on her death: that she died by suicide.

Real believed that the reality show gave Miriam fame, which was negative and permanently damaged her. Meanwhile, Ariel believes she was struggling with depression.

Miriam struggled with declining mental health after the show, and a horrific attack in 2007 damaged her self-confidence even further.

Her friends have previously spoken out about a 2007 attack in which Miriam was pushed out of the fourth-floor 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, where she never again got involved in showbiz or music – which had previously been her dream – and instead got caught up in the party scene.

It was believed that she had also done sex work during that time to pay the hospital bills, which were mounting.

There’s Something About Miriam ended in major controversy for Sky One, which broadcast the show in Britain – despite it 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 apologized and removed There Something About Miriam from its platforms.

The show was originally scheduled to air in November 2003, but legal proceedings halted its broadcast until February 2004.

The six male participants alleged conspiracy to commit 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.