A Midwestern teen who became a major player in New York City's high society in the 2000s after starting an anonymous blog that documented the lives of Manhattan's elite has come out as a trans woman.
Morgan Olivia Rose, who was born James Kurisunkal, talks about her time running Park Avenue Peerage, which she started in 2006, in Hulu's Queenmaker: The Making of An It Girl and reveals her transition after after years of 'pain,' according to 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 as per the publication.
On her Facebook account, Morgan, who began transitioning in 2009, wrote after the news emerged: 'The cat is out of the bag! Or shall I say, I am finally free to be me.
Morgan Olivia Rose (pictured now), who was born James Kurisunkal, started Park Avenue Peerage in 2006 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 loathing - to the point that suicide was a daily desire because living in my skin as someone who was not "me" - through years of transition I emerge as Morgan Olivia Rose.
'It was not a transformation per se, but a transition from being dead yet living... to now, fully alive and truly myself.'
Earlier on her Instagram stories, she also shared a memory from May 14, 2021, of her time filming Queenmaker.
After she was revealed as the blogger behind Park Avenue Peerage, she went onto work as a paid summer intern for New York magazine, according to a 2007 story in The New York Times.
During that period, Morgan was a student at the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign.
'I really am a freshman at the University of Illinois updating this Web site from my dorm room,' she wrote on her blog at the time after her identity was discovered by a New York magazine reporter.
'I live next to fields of corn and soybeans and my desktop is open with party pictures from 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 emerged: 'The cat is out of the bag! Or shall I say, I am finally free to be me'
Morgan (pictured) appears alongside Tinsley and socialite-turned-fashion influencer Olivia Palermo in the documentary
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 this crazy, over-the-top world,' she recalls. 'All of these photographers, I just remember thinking, "I want to be part of this. This looks cool."'
Tinsley, now 47, followed in the footsteps of heiresses Paris and Nicky Hilton, who were just teenagers when they were dubbed the 'littlest socialites in town' in a profile published by The New Yorker in 1999.
In the documentary's trailer, famed photographer Patrick McMullen takes partial credit for turning the socialite sisters into celebrities.
'I kind of invented the Hilton sisters,' he says, clarifying: 'Well, I taught them how to pose. People realize the power of image.'
During her time running Park Avenue Peerage (pictured is a screenshot of the blog), Morgan was a student at the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign
A number of socialites, photographers, gossip bloggers, and publicists were interviewed for the documentary, including celebrity publicist R. Couri Hay.
'When I met Tinsley Mortimer, we were at a party,' he recalls.
'I said, "It's all about being in the right dress at the right time."'
In a 2017 Town & Country profile, the publicist details how he helped her become an It Girl by having her quit her job as an event planner and join committees at the American Museum of Natural History and the Central Park Zoo.
Tinsley, who was married to oil heir Topper Mortimer at the time, is described as '[dropping] on the scene like a bombshell' by one interviewee in the documentary.
'It was fun until it just became not fun,' she says of her socialite status.
By 2007, Tinsley was being photographed in New York City constantly. She had designed a handbag line for Samantha Thavasa and had her own lip gloss shade for Dior: Tinsley Pink.
Queenmaker: The Making of an It Girl premieres on Hulu on May 17.
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