First, Miss USA 2023 Noelia Voigt (photo, left), 24, representing Utah, ditched her crown on May 6, 2024, citing “mental health” reasons (see story here).
Then 3 days later, Miss Teen USA 2023 UmaSofia Srivastava (photo, below right), 16, representing New Jersey, quit saying her “personal values no longer fully align with the direction” of the beauty pageant’s organization (see story here).
What’s going on here?
Let’s start with the suicide death of Cheslie Kryst, Miss USA 2019. A lawyer and Emmy-nominated TV host, she jumped from the high-rise where she lived; her mother said she was depressed (see her bio here).
Did her beauty queen career have anything to do with that? Stories about the Miss Universe organization, which owns the Miss USA and Miss Teen USA pageants, suggest a toxic environment there. A staffer who resigned mentioned “unprofessional and inappropriate” behavior, “bullying,” and “workplace toxicity” (see story here).
Gee, is Trump stalking the dressing rooms again? And “grabbing them by the (p-word) because when you’re famous they let you do it”? I think he’s tied up in court right now.
A Wall Street Journal article (read it here on MSN) says the Miss USA organization “has had a rocky few years. Its parent company filed for bankruptcy last year. The organization previously denied accusations that the 2022 Miss USA pageant was rigged. A former Miss USA, Cheslie Kryst, died by suicide in 2022.”
The parent company is owned by a Thai media mogul who planned to “transform” the Miss Universe organization. But the president and the CEO left in November 2023 and February 2024, respectively (details here).
All those people leaving, in the manner they did, suggestions the pageant itself has a problem.