It takes more than beauty and skill to win a beauty pageant. Alexis Smith, who was just named Miss Kansas, showed that being brave is sometimes needed to win the title.
Smith shocked the judges last month during her final interview for Miss Kansas when she said that the person who abused her was in the crowd.
That made her cause even more important: “to end unhealthy and abusive relationships.”
Smith kept her cool in a blue dress that sparkled when she was asked what she wanted to achieve as Miss Kansas.
“Some of you that saw me were crying because my abuser is here today,” she told the crowd.
“But that’s not going to stop me from being here on this Miss Kansas stage and from being the next Miss Kansas,” she said, getting cheers and praise. I believe that good relationships are important for myself and my community.
In an Instagram post a month after her win, she gave more background. She said that the night of the show, “someone I have been healing from tried to break my peace.”
“I didn’t want to fall into silence; I chose to make my dream world come true,” she wrote. “I regained my strength, not just for myself but also for my dreams and everyone hearing and seeing me.”
Adding, “I’m ready to use my story, tools, and resources to end all kinds of bad relationships.”
As she talked to the Wichita TV station KSN, Smith said, “Every woman in my family was affected by domestic violence.” From the time she was 14 years old until 2018 or 2019, her first relationship was cruel, she told KSN.
The woman told the station, “I’m still going through and dealing with it today.” “Domestic violence doesn’t care who it hurts.”
She said that she would keep using her fame to speak out against domestic violence in Kansas and other places.
CNN has asked the Miss America organization for a statement.
Smith, who is also an ICU nurse, won preliminary events in both health and fitness and talent earlier in the Miss Kansas pageant. She did a ventriloquism act with two puppets. Smith won first place in the state and got more than $15,000 in grants.
Smith and the winners from other states will go up against each other in January for the Miss America title.