Of Amanda Lapore’s early life Wikipedia writes, “born Armand Lepore .. November 21, 1967 grew up in Essex County, New Jersey. Her father was a..chemical engineer, and her mother had schizophrenia and spent much time in mental institutions She has one sibling, an elder brother.

In her early teens Lepore began making costumes for a transgender friend in exchange for female hormones.  She was already isolated from her peers. At this time, her parents withdrew her from public school and hired a private tutor. They took her to a psychologist, who helped her obtain a prescription to begin hormone therapy to prepare her for transition to a woman.

The York Times reported in july of 2017 “As Ms. Lepore recounts in her memoir, a guidance counselor at her high school spotted breasts growing underneath Ms. Lepore’s shirt and gave her an ultimatum. “I could get a tutor or quit,” Ms. Lepore said. She changed her name to Amanda, chose a tutor and got her high school equivalency diploma soon after, she said.

At the age of 17, and through a legal loophole, Lepore married a male bookstore owner. She was granted permission for sex reassignment surgery which she had at age 19 in Yonkers, New York

The NYT wrote, “Her first paramour was a businessman she hitched a ride from one day after high school. Ms. Lepore was 18 when she had her first long-term relationship, with a man identified in the memoir as “Michael,” who she said beat her up when he found out her biological secret.

Michael’s father, who was perhaps more progressive, intervened on her behalf, explaining that Ms. Lepore was not a man, but a woman whose body was out of sync with her mind. As Ms. Lepore tells it, the father paid for her sex reassignment surgery.”

In issue 16 of Project X Magazine, James St. James wrote an article called A Starlets 5 Years Of Hell, about Lapore’s life before NY and her first marriage, writing, ” He asserted his influence over her, refusing to let her leave the house alone.. She was a prisoner in her own home.”

NYT wrote, “One night in 1988 or 1989, Ms. Lepore packed a single suitcase and decamped to New York City,..

She found work as a dominatrix at Belle de Jour, an S&M club on the East Side, before landing at the makeup counter at Patricia Feilds, the avant-garde boutique in downtown Manhattan known for its transgender and unconventional staff.

While Ms. Lepore was making her foray into the city’s clubs, a fortuitous night arrived in 1993, when she attended the opening party for Disco 2000, a Wednesday party at the Limelight. She was spotted from across the dance floor by the party’s promoter Michael Alig .  Alig hired her on the spot to become a club regular and help spice up the party.

In 1998, Ms. Lepore ran into (Artist David).. LaChapelle at Bowery Bar, and after spending all night talking he invited her to model for him the following day. The photographer-muse relationship blossomed as her devotion to perpetual self-reinvention through plastic surgery intensified.

Ms. Lepore has undergone cosmetic alterations to nearly every part of her body that can be altered. She has had her derrière injected with silicone, her nose made smaller, her forehead lifted and her hairline lowered. Her cheeks are regularly pumped with fillers, and her breasts have been enhanced three times.

To accentuate her hourglass figure, Ms. Lepore even had her bottom ribs broken and pushed in as a way of making her waistline appear smaller and her hips broader. For that procedure, Ms. Lepore traveled to Mexico since few doctors will even perform the operation in the United States.

Wikipedia wrote, “Lepore has appeared in fashion magazines, including French Playboy and She is on the cover of Lords of Acid‘s 1999 album Expand Your Head  Lepore had a cameo in the documentary Party Monster: The Shockumentary (1998) and the feature film Party Monster (2003). She can be seen briefly in the fashion spoof comedy Zoolander (2001). She was featured in the documentary Dig! (2004) and in Another Gay Sequel (2008). Lepore has had cameos in music videos for artists including Elton John, Thalía, The Dandy Warhols

Lepore was a part of True Colors Tour 2007, a 15-city North American benefit tour sponsored by the Logo channel, hosted by comedian Margaret Cho and headlined by Cyndi Lauper.^[20] The tour benefited the Human Rights Campaign, PFLAG and the Matthew Shepard Foundation, and it included Erasure, Debbie Harry, The Gossip, Rufus Wainwright, The Dresden Dolls, The MisShapes, Rosie O’Donnell, Indigo Girls, The Cliks and other special guests. In 2009, Lepore performed at the Majestic Theatre during Metro Pride Fest in Detroit with The Divas of the Majestic: A Divine Lites Productions  In June 2011 she debuted her album I…Amanda Lepore at the Highline Ballroom with Cazwell, Kat Deluna, Neon Hitch, Ana Matronic,.. and many others.

On April 18, 2017.., Lepore launched her autobiographical book, “Doll parts”. It was co-written with Thomas Flannery Jr. and published through Regan Arts. Among the text, the book features lots of pictures of Amanda taken by different photographers such as David LaChapelle, Josef Jasso and Rob Lebow”

On episode #414 of the Pee-ew with Michael Alig and Ernie Glam discus the controversy over Lepores book, Doll Parts citing that lgbtq activists who feel that Amanda’s appearance as (the Male Ideal) as a sex symbol is a poor role model for the trans community of today.

Nyt wrote, “Denise Norris, a trans activist who served on the board of Marriage Equality USA and founded the Association for Transgender Professionals, said “The only way we can judge Amanda is through the eyes of 1987,” Ms. Norris said. “Doing that, she becomes a bookmark to how much we’ve changed in 30 years.”

You can follow Amanda Lepore on social media or check out her website at AmandaLepore.net