Instagram outed this Filipino celeb before she was ready, but she rose above the haters
Updated with response from Instagram: June 30, 2017, 2:09 p.m. SGT In a statement to Mashable, Instagram apologised for what happened to Angelina.
“We are very sorry for what happened to Ms. King," said the social media company.
"Facebook is continuing to investigate this situation, but clearly Ms. King’s story was not the outcome she intended."
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Angelina King wasn't planning to come out just yet, but Instagram spilled the beans.
It was in July 2016, almost a year ago, that Angelina -- then known as Ian King -- came out to the public as a transgender woman.
Of the Instagram outing, she said: "I was in shock when it happened, I wasn't ready."
King, who says she had known since she was a child that "there was something different" about her, had already years ago told close friends and family, including her wife, Joey Mead King -- a supermodel and TV personality.
But to the public, she was still known as Ian -- a prominent race-car driver, and heir to a motel chain in the Philippines.
On her private Instagram account, @hailtothe queen_, she posted pictures of herself in dresses and heels.
King's private account was not linked to her public Instagram account, and registered under a different phone number, different phone and with no common friends -- but it was not long before it was made public.
"I was having lunch with my step-mother when my friends messaged me saying that they received an Instagram notification saying 'Your friend Ian King is on Instagram as Angie Mead'," she told Mashable.
She soon started getting flooded by messages and hundreds of friend requests.
"I got home and I told Joey about it, and said people were taking screenshots of my account, and asking my friends about it," she said.
"I discussed it with Joey and she said, fuck it. So I unlocked the account, put down my phone and waited."
It wasn't long before the press picked up on it -- and soon the whole country knew.
Still, Angelina has no idea how the private account was linked back to her.
"It's very bizarre...it was a social media outing."
Hail to the Queen
Today, King maintains two public Instagram accounts: the original @hailtothe_king, as well as her now-public @hailtothe queen_.
The latter account is where she posted her first public picture of herself as Angelina King.
King continues to dedicate her original account to her race car passion.
Together, the duo hope to help push the envelope on LGBTQ awareness in the conservative Catholic country.
They're the stars of a single episode documentary titled "The Kings" coming out this week, that they hope will spread awareness in the region. The couple note that they were not paid for the project.
"We allowed a crew to come hang out with us for 5 days, interviewing our family members -- in the hope that if someone who is trans, or has a family member that's trans, maybe if they haven't understood, this could change their perspective," said Joey.
"That's the whole reason why we're doing it."
King adds that she hopes more LGBTQ couples in Asia will have the courage to be themselves.
"I took the risk, and the reward is that I still have my life partner," she says.
The Kings premieres on June 22 on TLC Southeast Asia’s Facebook page, 9pm.
Yvette is a Viral Content Reporter at Mashable Asia. She was previously reporting for BBC's Singapore bureau and Channel NewsAsia.
