Miss USA Resignation: When the reigning Miss USA, Noelia Voigt, announced this week that she would be resigning from her position, she cited her mental health and wrote about her gratitude for the opportunity.
âAs individuals, we grow through experiencing different things in life that lead us to learning more about ourselves,â she wrote on Instagram on Monday.
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But an internal resignation letter by Voigt to Miss USA leadership and the Miss Universe Organization, obtained Friday by The New York Times, presented a much darker picture.
Miss USA Resignation
In the eight-page letter, Voigt, who represented the state of Utah and was crowned in September, described âa toxic work environment within the Miss USA Organization that, at best, is poor management and, at worst, is bullying and harassment.â She also complained in her letter that the organization had delayed making good on her prize winnings.
The Miss USA Organization did not respond to a request for comment.
Miss USA Resignation: Voigtâs departure has spurred at least two other resignations. UmaSofia Srivastava, Miss Teen USA, announced Wednesday that she was stepping down from her role. Arianna Lemus, who represented Colorado at Miss USA in 2023, said Friday that she was resigning in solidarity after seeing Voigtâs post.
âThat was a call to help,â Lemus, 27, said in an interview.
Crowned winners are legally barred from speaking freely about their experiences with the Miss USA
The sudden departures have touched off wider speculation in the pageant world that crowned winners are legally barred from speaking freely about their experiences with the Miss USA Organization. Many of Voigtâs past competitors, including Lemus, shared a statement demanding that she be released from any nondisclosure agreements.
In her resignation letter, Voigt said she experienced an incident of sexual harassment when, during a Christmas parade last year in Sarasota, Florida, a driver made inappropriate comments toward her.
She said in her letter that the organization failed to support her when she reported the incident.
Voigt went on to write that serving as Miss USA took a toll on her health, adding that she now struggled with anxiety and took medication to manage her symptoms.
She said she had begun experiencing âheart palpitations, full body shakes, loss of appetite, unintentional weight loss, loss of sleep, loss of hair and more.â
Miss USA Resignation: Some people believed Voigtâs Instagram post announcing her resignation contained a secret message. The first letter of each of the first 11 sentences of the statement spell the phrase âI AM SILENCED,â which some have interpreted as a signal that Voigt is unable to speak openly about her experience.
Just a few days after Voigtâs announcement, Srivastava, who was crowned Miss Teen USA in 2023, also resigned from her post.
âAfter careful consideration, I have decided to resign as I find that my personal values no longer fully align with the direction of the organization,â Srivastava, who represented the state of New Jersey at the Miss Teen USA pageant in September, wrote on Instagram.
Her post included a quote from German philosopher Friedrich Nietzsche: âThere are no beautiful surfaces without a terrible depth.â
âI know all of us who love the program want to rush out and do something,â Laylah Rose, the president and CEO of the Miss USA Organization, wrote in an email to the Times earlier this week, regarding Voigtâs and Srivastavaâs resignations. âMy goal is to provide truly helpful steps we can take together.
âOur all-encompassing goal at Miss USA is to celebrate and empower women,â Rose added, saying she was taking âthese allegations seriously.â
Through a representative, both Srivastava and Voigt declined to comment, citing a nondisclosure agreement. (A copy of the 2023 Miss USA contract obtained by the Times appears to bar signees from disclosing any information about Miss USA while employed by the organization.)
After Voigtâs announcement, several of her fellow Miss USA 2023 competitors posted a statement on Instagram demanding that the Miss USA Organization release Voigt from any such agreement.
Juliana Morehouse, who competed at Miss USA representing Maine and lives in South Carolina, said in an interview with the Times that the letter originated in a group chat of 2023 participants who were âshocked and saddenedâ to hear of Voigtâs resignation. On a Zoom call, they hashed out the message they wanted to share in support of Voigt.
Claudia Michelle Engelhardt, who stepped down from her role as social media director for Miss USA this month, said she felt the Miss USA participants were unfairly pressured into signing their contracts.
âIt was pretty much, âYou have to sign this or youâre not going to compete,ââ said Engelhardt, 24. âYou just worked your butt off to get here. You won your state. What, are you not going to go because you donât want to sign a contract? They are basically holding you hostage, for lack of a better term, to sign this contract.â