1. Inside the dark world of American beauty pageants
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American beauty pageants are well-known for their glitter and glamor, as beauty queen hopefuls compete against one another in an immense effort, no doubt filled with blood, sweat, and tears, to win the incredibly sought-after Miss America crown and title.
2. Tiara Terror
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However, under the facade of glitter, rhinestones, and pearly white smiles, there is a darker side to America's beauty pageants that is far from hidden from public view. Lurking just underneath the glamorous surface are dark secrets and devastating scandals.
3. 1921: The First Pageant
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The very first Miss America pageant took place just over a century ago, in Atlantic City, in 1921. And it was draped in scandal from the very beginning with one of the two frontrunners, Virginia Lee, being disqualified because she was deemed a professional rather than an amateur. However, questions arose at the time and there were many questions surrounding her closeness with the chief judge. A 16-year-old took the crown that year.
4. A Vanishing Act
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16 years later, 1937's pageant winner, Bette Cooper, was quite good at her vanishing act, often failing to show up for her official duties, including her first official appearance! She did turn up eventually but it was short-lived as she disappeared again and had no further involvement with the pageant. Apparently, she never wanted to do it in the first place, according to a source, which might have resulted in a few disgruntled beauty queens!
5. The Empty Throne
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Funnily enough, when Bette Cooper disappeared shortly after winning the pageant (apparently with the help of her chauffeur), failing to turn up to her first official appearance, there were a few hilariously awkward photographs of the runners-up posing with an empty throne...
6. Body Shaming
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Miss America contestants have often been the targets of mockery, often with offensive comments surrounding their looks and their weight. And these have been pretty recent, including in 2017 with the pageant's CEO, Sam Haskell sending cruel and misogynistic emails.
7. Misogyny
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This body shaming even extends to further misogynistic comments surrounding the contestant's sex life too. In fact, Donald Trump was even guilty of making cruel comments in 2016 when he said in an interview that Miss Universe Alicia Machado "gained a massive amount of weight", even calling her "Miss Piggy".
8. Shocking Emails
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Shocking emails were sent from the Miss America pageant's CEO Sam Haskell on a regular basis, a source revealed, and these emails were actually published by the HuffPost in 2017. These revealed a number of cruel and harmful comments, surrounding body image and sex lives.
9. Sex-Life Speculations
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The contestants have also been the target of speculations surrounding their private lives, including their sex lives. Mallory Hagan, who was crowned as Miss America back in 2013 was often the subject of these remarks, particularly within the leaked emails. But it has been an issue throughout the pageant's life.
10. Sexist Remarks
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Several of the emails that were sent by the then CEO Sam Haskell used vulgar and insulting language in relation to previous contestants of the pageant. These included Mallory Hagan, Gretchen Carlson, and others. The misogyny in the emails was found to be appalling, even questioning other people's decisions to date the contestants.
11. Stepping Down
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After these crude and sexist emails were leaked by the Huffpost back in 2017, Sam Haskell, stepped down from his position as the CEO of the Miss America pageant. This was following mounting pressure. Robin Fleming later replaced him as the CEO of Miss America.
12. Lies Lies and More Lies
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Miss America pageants are notoriously difficult to enter, mainly because of the extremely rigid and discriminatory rules and conditions that the contestants have to meet. Back in 1957, Mary Leona Gage had her crown taken from her after they found out that she'd lied about aspects of her life, including being married, having kids, and her age at the time.
13. TW: Suicide
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Mary Leona Gage had a tragic life and said in an interview that she entered the pageant to escape the oppression of her marriage which began when she was just 14 years old. And after being stripped of her titles, she said that she even attempted suicide. In 2022, Miss USA 2019 Cheslie Kryst died by suicide, sparking conversations surrounding mental health among beauty pageant contestants.
14. Nudes
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Vanessa Williams was the very first black woman to be crowned Miss America back in 1984. But it was short-lived because Penthouse Magazine, the publication she had previously worked at as a photographer's assistant, published nude photographs of her without her permission!
15. Decrowning
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Being involved in a nude scandal, Vanessa Williams was forced to hand back her crown and she was stripped of her title, Miss America. This scandal was one that would follow her throughout her life and career, and in her words, she could "feel the judgment" each time she walked into an audition.
16. An Overdue Apology
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Vanessa Williams did eventually get an apology from the world-famous pageant, but it wasn't until 32 whole years after she was decrowned of her title. The year before this, though, in 2015, the Ugly Betty star served as the head judge of the competition and judged the competition alongside Zendaya, Amy Purdy, and others.
17. A Well-Needed Rebrand
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So after various scandals, a former winner in 1989, Gretchen Carlson, who was later one of the victims of the email scandal, gave the competition a well-needed rebrand. This rebrand ditched the famous swimsuit section, a part of the competition that made many contestants incredibly uncomfortable.
18. Swimsuit Drama
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However, ditching the swimsuits, although it sounded ideal, led to a lot of conflict within the organization. On one side, they were desperate to preserve the competition's tradition, fearing change, whilst on the other, the contestants were 'mortified' at the very thought of parading in a swimsuit onstage.
19. No Boyfriends Allowed
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The beauty contestants have a rather harsh reality within the competition that often goes unnoticed. In fact, the shocking and strict rules that were enforced were even acknowledged by the organization itself when they eliminated many of these strict rules.
20. Discrimination
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Many of the outdated rules weren't scrapped until as late as 2022, including contestants shouldn't be married, pregnant, or previously married, and they were to remain single whilst they held the title. This obviously resulted in a huge lack of diversity within the competition.
21. Donald Trump Allegations
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Donald Trump has also been at the center of controversy and scandal surrounding the dark world of American beauty pageants. In fact, he not only made misogynistic comments about a contestant but there were also allegations that he invaded the contestant's privacy when he was co-owner of the Miss Universe Organization.
22. Dressing Room Invasions
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Donald Trump was accused of behaving inappropriately towards not only Miss Universe contestants but there were also allegations of him invading the privacy of contestants by entering their dressing rooms without permission, forcing one woman to quickly put her dress on in shock. He later said that he was the owner, so he was "inspecting" the place...
23. Rigging?
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In 2022, the Miss USA pageant was accused of rigging the Miss USA competition. Miss Montana that year, Heather Lee O'Keefe, revealed on TikTok that she and other contestants that year believed that the pageant was rigged. This was heavily denied despite further contestants coming forward with concerns and fury that the winner that year, Miss Texas R'Bonney Gabriel, was preplanned.
24. Lack of Self-Confidence?
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Looking at all of those glamorous smiling faces on the pageant stage might lead you to believe that the contestants are radiating self-confidence. However, research has shown that the biggest obstacle that women face in reaching their potential is the lack of self-confidence. This has been attributed to the impossible standards of the beauty industry giants that are usually sponsors of these competitions.
25. Humiliation
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Along with the degrading comments that contestants have had to deal with over the years, there's also another layer of humiliation that some have had to deal with. One case involves Donald Trump and Miss Venezuela, Alicia Machado, who was forced to exercise in public after she'd apparently gained weight.
26. TW: Drug Misuse
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There have also been reports of drug misuse amongst the contestants despite the rules essentially stating that they need to keep their image as clean as possible. The 2006 Miss USA winner, Tara Conner, risked losing her crown after reports of her drinking underage and misusing cocaine.
27. The Perfect Image
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Many of the American beauty pageant contestants over the years have been under pressure to maintain the perfect image of themselves which has, in many cases, taken a toll on their mental health. If they don't the consequences are big and they've been known to have been stripped of their crown and title.
28. 1968 Protests
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Beauty pageants have been causing issues with women for a long time. Not only did one contestant call for a rebrand in 1989, but just over 20 years before this, 400 women staged a furious protest in New Jersey, throwing objects like bras and aprons into a trash can. They even crowned a sheep to make their point!
29. All about appearance
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You may or may not be familiar with the competition structure, but it is essentially based on appearance. It seems so backward in this day and age, and they might try to beg to differ with this claim. But can you watch it and really claim that they genuinely want to host a contestant who is opinionated on subjects like politics and social issues? It's probably unlikely...
30. Not all glitter and glam
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So, there you have it. The world of American beauty pageants is not all glitter and glam; it's not all smiles and flowers and squeaky-clean personalities. In fact, behind all that sparkles, the truth is, that American beauty pageants hide a dark past, and present, filled with traumatic events, shocking scandals, and grim secrets.