The Daily Mail Australia has outed trans OnlyFans model Kay Manuel. As part of an ongoing shame campaign, the tabloid has published her deadname along with several pre-transition images—including one lingerie photo Manuel says was taken when she was a minor.

Senior Daily Mail editor Lucy Manly went after the 22-year-old adult content creator after she claimed to have slept with 250 legally aged participants in “schoolies” (an Australia celebration period for graduating high school).

Manly has since written a series of articles outing Manuel. Since Manuel initially denied being transgender to the tabloid, the Daily Mail has cast her as a liar whose “web of deception” needs exposing.

In the most recent post, Manly compares Manuel to Miriam Rivera, the model on the early 2000s British dating series There’s Something About Miriam. The transphobic twist in the final episode of the series reveals that Rivera is trans, and multiple contestants sued the production company over it. Manly claims—with no evidence of what conversations Manuel has had with her romantic partners—that the same thing could happen to her.

With the tabloid dominating the conversation over her sex life and gender identity, Manuel joined KIIS FM radio’s Kyle and Jackie O Show to set the record straight. She explained that she initially denied being transgender because she panicked when the question came up.

“It wasn’t a fun time when I was asked that question,” she said. “It was like, ‘What do I say?’ And I didn’t know what to say because it’s a hard topic to talk about.”

“It’s been disgusting to be honest,” she added. “As soon as I was asked that question by the Daily Mail I just knew my life was about to start unravelling… I never thought it would happen in such a public way. They’ve literally started knocking on my family’s door.”

The hosts, however, were more interested in hearing about her genitals. “It’s a bit of a hard topic to talk about, it’s very personal,” Manuel said in response to multiple probing questions over her transition.

Speaking to Australian LGBTQ+ outlet The Star Observer, Manuel slammed the Daily Mail for publishing photos of her as a minor. “It was honestly, in my opinion, unlawful what they did,” she said. “There were so many pictures of me from my past they could have chosen. The fact that they posted a picture of me completely topless… they had to blur the bottom out, and the top.”

Manuel went on to share outrage over the tabloid’s lurid fixation on her private life. “This is not a court case, I’ve not done anything legally wrong… I’m no fucking celebrity,” she said. “There was no law being broken. It was just a controversial topic people wanted to know about.

“I knew one day it would come out, I just didn’t think it would be as public as it was.”

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