Humans of New York Is Raising $300,000 for Viral Sensation Tanqueray

From Oprah Magazine

• In November 2019 the popular blog Humans of New York posted an enlightening series on Instagram about a woman known to the internet as Tanqueray.

• Tanqueray was a stripper in 1970s New York—and according to her, she led a life filled with mobsters, theft, and presidential secrets.

• Now, the man behind HONY—Brandon Stanton—has started a GoFundMe for Tanqueray, hoping to raise $300,000 for her medical care.

Prepare to be entertained because, boy, do we have a viral sensation for you.

If you keep up with the wildly popular blog and social media account Humans of New York—run by photographer Brandon Stanton—than you already indulge regularly in their moving everyday portraits of real life New Yorkers. Sometimes the captions telling these stories are funny, other times thought provoking and even devastating. But one was down right badass—and filled with piping hot tea, thanks to a woman named Tanqueray. (Well, that's her stripper name, anyway.) She spoke with Stanton in November 2019.

In fact, her story was so over-the-top that the people on the internet called for a show to be made about her life. Immediately. And now, over the weekend Stanton said that he would unfold an additional 32-part story about Tanqueray dubbed Tattletales From Tanqueray—whose real name is Stephanie—during the week of September 21. He announced the news in an Instagram post in which he explained that since meeting Stephanie last year, they had become friends and has since sat down for a series of 20 interviews with her to record her life story. But amidst her declining health, he's simultaneously started a GoFundMe campaign for her to cover her medical needs. As of publish time it's raised $268,888 of it's $300,000 goal.

"Stephanie’s health has taken a bad turn, and she’s in a really tough spot," Stanton wrote from his Humans of New York account. "As her story is shared, we will be raising money to ensure that Stephanie can live the rest of her life in comfort and dignity. Stephanie has a lot of urgent needs, so her care will be expensive. But her story is priceless. If the series adds any value to your life over the next seven days, please consider making a contribution to our fundraiser through the link in bio."

You can read a more detailed account of Stanton and Stephanie's relationship on GoFundMe, where the blogger explains that she suffered a fall earlier this year.

"We’ve hired a team of professionals to make her apartment clean and comfortable," he wrote. "We’ve gotten her a 24-hour home health aide. She now has a physical therapist coming to the apartment multiple times a week. And we're working on handling the back rent and eviction notices. Her health is not improving as quickly as we'd like, but Stephanie remains absolutely convinced that she is on the mend. Unfortunately her unorthodox lifestyle hasn't qualified her for social security. And she doesn’t currently have insurance. (Though we're trying to get her signed up for Medicare.) Her care is extremely expensive. So far I’ve been using funds from the HONY Patreon, but it’s not sustainable long term."

Stanton has already started part one of Tattletales From Tanqueray, which you can read above. But for a refresh on how she stole the internets hearts, read on.

Donate to Stephanie Here

Who in the world is Tanqueray?

She is this larger-than-life woman you see below.

When she was first introduced to Humans of New York's 9.6 million Instagram followers on November 18, Tanqueray arrived with a bang, clad in a vibrant floral and striped quilted jacket with oversized fur cuffs and a matching hat. The seemingly innocent elderly woman's first words?

"My mom threw me out of the house at seventeen for getting pregnant, then had me arrested when I tried to get my clothes," she said, according to the caption. "Then she f****d the head of parole to try to keep me in jail. She was some prime p***y back then."

And that's only the beginning. Over the course of four days, the public learned more and more about Tanqueray's fabulous NSFW life in the 1970's through a three-part photo series. Some of her juiciest fun facts? She attended the Fashion Institute of Technology, wore stollen clothes from Bergdorf Goodman, was a stripper at clubs overrun by mobsters, and was hit on by a rabbi because "I looked like a drag queen, honey."

Fair warning if you haven't noticed by now: Tanqueray's language is a bit...unfiltered.

"I had this magic trick where I’d put baby bottle tops on my nipples and squirt real milk, then I’d pull a cherry out of my G-string and feed it to the guy in the front row," she said. Yes y'all, you read that right.

We want more. What else did she say?

Apart from colorful anecdotes about her own life, Tanqueray also managed to spill a few details about a couple of other prominent individuals. First up? A certain mustached Hollywood A-lister.

"In fact, one night after a show, I caught another dancer sneaking off to the Tate Hotel with our biggest tipper," she said. "Not allowed. So the next night we put a little itching powder in her G-string. Boy did she put on a show that night. Didn’t see her again until The Longest Yard with Burt Reynolds. So I guess she finally f****d the right one.”

Yes, she went there. And the gossip just kept getting juicier.

"Madame Blanche set my best friend Vicki up with The President every time he came to New York. And don’t you dare write his name cause I can’t afford the lawyers. But he’d always spend an hour with her. He’d send a car to pick her up, bring her to his hotel room, put a Secret Service agent in front of the door, and get this: all he ever did was..." Um, yeah, we'll let you read the rest on your own time.

OK, I'm sold. When is Tanqueray getting her own show?

If you thoroughly enjoyed her special brand of "not a care in the world" storytelling, then you're not alone. The internet was equally moved, showering Tanqueray with praise and calling for her story to be taken to Hollywood.

Even Jennifer Garner got in on the action, commenting on one photo: "Why is this not a @Netflix series?"

We're asking ourselves the same question. For now, we'll just bask in the legendary light of the unapologetically herself Tanqueray.

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