April Ashley was born in 1935 to a father who was a sailor in the British Royal Navy during World War II, known for his affinity for drink and fathering ten children in quick succession. As a girl, April was frail, often refusing to eat most food or drink her school milk, which led to malnutrition and a calcium deficiency. After leaving the merchant marine, April moved to London at the urging of her friend Ronald Cogan, where she worked various small jobs to make ends meet.
April was fascinated with London and acquired the nickname "Eyelashes" after Albert Einstein remarked that she should be Madame Butterfly due to her thick, long lashes. Einstein even asked to be introduced to April, despite her still dressing androgynously. In 1956, while on holiday in the South of France, April met friends who suggested she work at Le Carrousel nightclub in Paris, which specialized in female impersonators.
The management at Le Carrousel was stunned by April's feminine looks and immediately asked her to join the troupe, where she stayed for four years. April then paid 2,000 pounds for her sex-change operation, which was a lengthy and excruciating process with side-effects that lasted for two years. As a woman, April felt confident to pursue a career in the public eye.
April became queen of the catwalk, a favorite underwear model for Vogue, photographed by Terence Donovan and David Bailey, and was in constant demand by photographers. She appeared in the Royal shows for Deenfield Furs, Road to Hong Kong with Bob Hope, Bing Crosby, and Joan Collins, and even married Arthur Corbett, son of Lord Rowallen, in 1961.
Together, April and her husband opened a successful nightclub in Spain and became close friends with Peter O'Toole and Omar Sharif. However, after seven years of marriage, April and her husband filed for divorce, leaving her without funds and the discovery of her transsexual past by the British tabloids ruining her personal life and modeling career.
Instead of losing her place in swinging London, April shifted her focus and opened a restaurant, April and Desmonds, or AD8, on March 1, 1970, at 8 Egerton Graden Mews, Knightsbridge, just down from Harrods. Lord Lichfield eventually bought the restaurant, and April became London's most glamorous hostess, once again featuring in the papers for her 23-inch waist, taste for citrus colors, beehive, tailored pants, and sequined Biba dresses.
In 1975, after a massive heart attack, April retreated to Hay-on-Wye on the Welsh border, where she lived with her dog Flora for 11 years before small legacies from two locals allowed her to move to the warmer, more liberal France, Spain, and finally the West Coast of America.
