Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-N.Y.) is under fire for her carefully crafted “Bronx girl” image, even after new revelation of her comfortable suburban upbringing. After a Yorktown High School yearbook photo went viral, Ocasio-Cortez took to X on Friday to defend herself, insisting her background is still rooted in struggle. “My mom cleaned houses and I helped,” she posted, claiming she exchanged chores for tutoring help and that splitting time between the Bronx and the suburbs shaped her views on inequality. But critics say the congresswoman is twisting her personal story to fit a political brand that never matched the facts. “She’s embarrassing herself doing everything possible to avoid admitting she grew up in the suburbs instead of the Bronx,” said state Assemblyman Matt Slater (R-Yorktown) on Sunday. “She’s gone from visiting extended family to commuting, and now she’s trying to land somewhere ‘in between.’ It’s clearly desperate attempts to protect the lie.” Ocasio-Cortez, who was born in the Bronx but left at age five for the leafy comfort of Yorktown Heights, graduated from Yorktown High School in 2007. Yet she regularly refers to herself as a “Bronx girl,” selling an image that helped propel her 2018 primary upset over then-Rep. Joe Crowley. Last week, the self-styled progressive firebrand reignited the branding machine, sparring with President Trump after she called for his impeachment over Iranian airstrikes. When Trump called her “one of the dumbest people in Congress,” Ocasio-Cortez tried to flex Bronx pride with a bizarre jab: “I’m a Bronx girl. You should know we can eat Queens boys for breakfast.” The line fell flat. While Ocasio-Cortez portrays herself as a scrappy outsider, her carefully polished biography leaves out years of suburban privilege. Yorktown Heights, where she spent her formative years, is one of Westchester County’s more comfortable communities, with above-average schools and median home values north of $700,000. Still, Ocasio-Cortez refuses to let reality puncture her narrative, doubling down on the notion that growing up “between” the Bronx and Yorktown gives her a unique claim to hardship. (YWN World Headquarters – NYC)