THE HIDDEN PAIN OF beauty queens

THE HEARTBREAKING SUICIDE OF FORMER MISS USA CHESLIE KRYST HAS SHONE A LIGHT ON THE UGLY SIDE OF BEAUTY PAGEANTS

- Naomi Toy

MENTAL HEALTH

Pageant winners appear to have it all – beauty, brains and confidence – but Kryst’s death came as a shocking reminder that mental health issues don’t discriminate. While Kryst had aired her troubles, no-one knew the depth of her despair.

No-one will ever know the reason Cheslie Kryst, a woman who seemed to have it all, decided to jump to her death from her Manhattan high-rise apartment a little after 7am on the last Sunday of January.

The note she left behind gave no clue, only indicating that everything she owned should go to her mother, April Simpkins.

Those searching for a reason for the 30-year-old’s catastrophic decision jumped on any clue for some insight, including analysing her final Instagram post, written just hours before her tragic death.

“May this day bring you rest and peace,” Kryst wrote.

Plagued by depression and mental health issues, it seems Kryst, who won the Miss USA pageant in 2019 while representing North Carolina and then used the platform to fight for criminal justice reform, was perhaps looking for her own kind of rest and peace herself.