Cheslie Kryst

photo courtesy of wikipedia

photo courtesy of wikipedia

Amy DiVito

On Sunday, January, 30th 2022 Former Miss USA, Cheslie Kryst, died falling off a building . They ruled the death as a sucide. Which shocked her friends and family members. She was crowned Miss USA in May 2019 and got top 10 for the Miss Universe in the same year.  During this time, she was also becoming an attorney and got her MBA degree. Cheslie made great strides for women of color. People magazine states “That year, she and three other women — Nia Imani Franklin (Miss America) Kaliegh Garris (Miss Teen USA) and Zozibini Tunzi (Miss Universe) — became the first group of Black women in pageant history to hold all four major titles in a single year.”

 

Cheslie Kryst was born on April 28th, 1991 in Jackson, Michigan. She went to the University of South Carolina and was in an honors college program. She had a huge passion for learning, and she graduated with not only one degree, but three degrees. She graduated with degrees in law and business after completing her bachelor’s degree. According to the Associated Press, “After graduating from law school, she worked as a civil litigation attorney and did pro bono work to help reduce prison sentences of those impacted by the justice system.

” Cheslie was not a person that gave up easily with school and on the pageant stage. People magazine says, “Sure enough, on her fifth attempt, Kryst won the Miss North Carolina USA pageant, before going on to be crowned Miss USA in 2019 at the age of 28, making her the oldest woman to win the pageant.” After the pageant life, she went towards hosting television. She became a host on Extra and Extra was nominated for the 48th Daytime Emmy Award for the Outstanding Entertainment News Program.

Cheslie had a very private life, and even her mother said, “she was dealing with high-functioning depression which she hid from everyone — including me, her closest confidant — until very shortly before her death.” She had been battling depression for a while and the family has put the sucide hotline number for any others that may not be able to talk about their feelings. All her close friends and organizational members also said they “ remembered Kryst for her “kind” spirit.” The Kryst family never stated whether the depression was because of the pageants or not but there are studies that prove it does affect women’s self esteem. A study done by West Virginia University did a survey where they took 20 girls who had never done a pageant before compared to 20 girls who regularly have been in pageants. “These findings suggest that beauty pageant participation among young adult women may influence their body dissatisfaction and self-esteem but may not have a significant effect on depression.” They found they had become more insecure and were looking at what they ate and how they looked more after the study.