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April Ashley

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April Ashley

‎‎April Ashley (born George Jamieson on April 25, 1935) is an English model and restaurant hostess. She was famously outed as a transsexual by the British press in 1961.

After an unhappy childhood in Liverpool as one of six children of a Roman Catholic father and a Protestant mother, she moved to Paris in the 1950s and joined the cast of the cabaret show at the Carousel theater with the famous French entertainer Coccinelle. She had an early sex reassignment procedure in 1960 in Casablanca, Morocco under Dr Georges Burou [1]. April was only the seventh person to receive sex reassignment surgery from Dr. Burou. Dr. Burou had warned April that the procedure could even kill her. She pressed ahead with the operation. Dr. Burou castrated April and reserved the scrotal skin. He amputated her penis and denuded it of it's skin. He created a surgical cavity between April's prostate and rectum. This cavity would function as the artifical vagina like orifice. He lined the cavity with the penile skin. The scrotal skin were used to make mock labia majora. April's urethra was repositioned in a more female position. April's clitoris like structure was made of spongiform from her urethra. She bled for weeks after the surgery. Large clumps of hair came out of her head. She has indicated that it never grew back.

In her book 'The First Lady', April Ashley tells the shocking story of the rape she endured while still living as a man. A homosexual roommate vicously raped the young George Jamieson. His anus was severely injured as a result of the sexual assault. April has suffered much psychological trauma as a result of the sexual assault.

After returning to England, Ashley became a successful fashion model, appearing in such publications as Vogue and winning a small role in the film The Road to Hong Kong, which starred Bing Crosby and Bob Hope. Her credit, however, was dropped from the film after she was outed as transsexual by the Sunday People in 1961.

She married Hon. Arthur Corbett in 1963, but the marriage did not last. In 1970 Corbett (later 3rd Baron Rowallan) successfully had the marriage annulled on the grounds that Ashley had been born male, which set the precedent for the legal status of transsexuals in the United Kingdom until the UK Gender Recognition Act 2004 came into force.

After a heart attack in London Ashley retired for some years to the Welsh border town of Hay-on-Wye. Ashley was once great friends with fellow transsexual performer Amanda Lear. According to Ashley's book 'The First Lady' the two women had a major falling out and haven't spoken in years.

April Ashley's Odyssey, a biography by Duncan Fallowell, was published in 1982. In 2006, Ashley released her autobiography The First Lady and made TV appearances on Channel Five News, This Morning and BBC News. In one interview, she said, "This is the real story and contains a lot of things I just couldn't say in 1982", including details of her alleged affairs with Michael Hutchence, Peter O'Toole, Omar Sharif, Turner Prize sculptor Grayson Perry and the future 19th Duke of Infantado, among others. However, the book was pulped after it was discovered that it had heavily plagiarized the 1982 book on Ashley[1] Most of the actors mentioned as being lovers of Ashley have denied the truth of these allegations.

At one time, Catherine Zeta-Jones was rumoured to being playing April in a film story of her life. April still has many famous friends and fans. She was great friends with the late 'Doctor Who' star Jon Pertwee and his wife Ingeborg. They used to have drinks together in Chelsea.

References

  • April Ashley's Odyssey by April Ashley with Duncan Fallowell, London: Jonathan Cape, 1982 ISBN 0-224-01849-3
  • The First Lady by April Ashley with Douglas Thompson; London: John Blake Publishing Ltd, 2006, ISBN 1-84454-231-9
  1. ^ April Ashley book pulped!
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