Former Miss USA Noelia Voigt Feels Vindicated by New Lawsuit

Noelia Voigt, who made historical past as the primary Miss USA to surrender her crown, stated she feels “vindicated” after the proprietor of Miss Universe sued former Miss USA CEO, Laylah Rose, alleging she created a “poisonous office surroundings.”

“The facade is crumbling huge time,” Voigt informed Enterprise Insider.

In her official resignation letter, Voigt described her expertise as Miss USA as taking a “detrimental psychological and emotional toll” as a consequence of Rose’s fixed harassment.

Rose did not reply to a request for remark from Enterprise Insider. Attorneys for the Miss Universe Group declined to remark.

Lifting the shackles

Miss Universe, which oversees the Miss USA and Miss Teen USA pageants, is suing VVV International Ent., the corporate owned by Rose. The lawsuit, which notes that Rose is the one worker of VVV, alleges that it created a “poisonous work surroundings” and failed to offer prize packages for Miss USA and Miss Teen USA winners.

Voigt’s mom, Jackeline Voigt, informed Enterprise Insider final Friday that the household hadn’t heard from the Miss Universe Group since her daughter and Miss Teen USA UmaSofia Srivatsava resigned inside days of one another in Might 2024.

The previous Miss USA is hoping the brand new lawsuit will result in a dialog between her and the group.

“I do not want for them to get on their knees and apologize and beg for my forgiveness,” Voigt stated. “I perceive that, when it got here to my relationship with them, I used to be non permanent. That they had a protracted contract with Laylah, so, when it comes to enterprise, their loyalty was along with her.”

Nonetheless, Voigt hopes the group can launch her from Rose’s restrictive NDA, a brand new requirement launched by Rose when she was CEO. She alluded to her NDA in her resignation letter, hiding a cryptic message: “I AM SILENCED.”

Voigt stated the NDA has blocked her from profession alternatives, together with writing a e book or doing talking engagements about her reign.

“That is one of the simplest ways for them to rectify the scenario, and I hope they’re open to it,” she stated. “It is my life and my story. This shackle on me, it could really feel good to have it lifted.”

‘Eight months of torture and abuse’

Voigt was topped Miss USA in September 2023, two months after Rose was introduced because the pageant’s new CEO. She succeeded Crystle Stewart, who led the pageant throughout a turbulent two-year interval that included allegations of rigging and a sexual harassment scandal.

It was meant to be a brand new period, however bother shortly started.

In an interview with Enterprise Insider in Might 2024, Voigt and Srivatava’s moms stated their daughters had endured “eight months of torture and abuse” whereas working with Rose. Jackeline Voigt stated Rose’s communication was “so abusive, so aggressive,” it could depart her daughter “shaking simply to see a textual content or a name or an electronic mail from Laylah.”

In her resignation letter, Voigt stated she needed to be prescribed two totally different nervousness medicines whereas she was Miss USA.

“I’ve by no means ever in my life been on anti-anxiety treatment,” Voigt informed Enterprise Insider in August. “It wasn’t one thing that got here out of nowhere. I felt like I needed to placed on a facade to signify the group as a result of I had this title, however I did not agree with what was occurring.”

Rose denied the allegations in an open letter despatched to ABC Information in Might 2024.

“Such conduct will not be accepted, and we will guarantee you that if such conduct ever occurred, we’d take speedy steps to guard our titleholder and supply entry to acceptable assets,” she wrote.

The issues continued

Miss Universe CEO Anne Jakrajutatip’s firm, JKN Universe, filed the swimsuit in opposition to VVV International on October 3. The corporate is in search of greater than $75,000 in damages for breach of contract.

For Voigt, the lawsuit is a step in the precise course, although she stated it solely covers “a small proportion” of what she went by means of.

JKN’s grievance referenced conditions from Voigt’s resignation letter, together with when the pageant queen stated she was sexually harassed throughout a Miss USA look after being left alone with a person in a automotive. The grievance stated VVV failed to offer a chaperone or journey companion at instances, regardless of the “contractual obligation to take action.”

JKN stated VVV additionally failed to organize Voigt for Miss Universe 2023 or present her with a nationwide costume for the competitors. Jackeline Voigt informed Enterprise Insider that her household needed to pay $20,000 out of pocket to assist Voigt put together for the pageant, the place she finally positioned within the high 20.

Voigt informed Enterprise Insider on Thursday that she was glad JKN’s grievance acknowledged what she and Srivastava went by means of, however on the time, it “felt like we have been screaming right into a void.”

Conferences with the Miss Universe Group solely appeared to deepen tensions with Rose, Jackeline Voigt informed Enterprise Insider in 2024. She stated Rose punished the pageant queens by revoking their social media entry to the pageant’s official pages and commenced “impersonating” them on-line to reward herself.

“The conferences stopped possibly a month or two earlier than the ladies resigned as a result of they realized nothing was actually altering,” Jackeline Voigt stated. “It was solely making issues worse.”

Rose remained CEO after Voigt and Srivastava stepped down. The 2024 Miss USA and Miss Teen USA pageants went on as deliberate, with Alma Cooper and Addie Carver profitable the respective titles.

Within the grievance, JKN stated VVV did not pay Cooper’s $100,000 Miss USA wage and the promised $10,000 Miss Teen USA scholarship to Carver. JKN stated it additionally realized of Rose’s “continued poor remedy of contestants and pageant winners” in October 2024, together with failing to correctly put together Cooper for Miss Universe 2024.

A brand new period

JKN’s grievance alleges that the dangerous publicity surrounding Rose has considerably harm the pageant’s model. Miss USA state administrators informed the corporate that fewer ladies have been making use of to compete, and JKN stated it could not safe a US broadcaster to air the pageants as a result of “public scandals.”

The grievance stated JKN lastly determined to terminate its administration settlement with VVV in July. On September 4, Thom Brodeur introduced he was the brand new CEO of Miss USA. Rose tried to dispute the claims a day later, writing on Miss USA’s official Instagram web page that she was nonetheless in cost and had not seen “any new contracts concerning any switch of possession.”

“Once I realized she had been served termination papers in July, I audibly gasped,” Voigt informed Enterprise Insider. “Did she actually suppose this wasn’t finally going to change into public info? That is mind-boggling for me, however I am not shocked in any respect.”

On October 24, Voigt will watch a brand new Miss USA be topped on the identical stage the place her life modified two years in the past. The pageant queen stated the lawsuit has already helped her reembrace a number of the reminiscences from when she competed, together with the Dua Lipa track that performed throughout her yr’s opening dance quantity.

“Normally, after I hear ‘Dance The Night time,’ I skip it,” Voigt stated. “However right this moment, I allowed myself to hear, and it instantly transported me again to the choreography and the stage and every little thing I used to be seeing and feeling in that second.”

“It felt totally different right this moment than if I had listened to it the day earlier than yesterday,” she added. “The pageant world is therapeutic.”