Something appears to be amiss in the world of beauty pageants. Miss Teen USA UmaSofia Srivastava announced her resignation on Wednesday, just two days after Noelia Voigt abruptly resigned as Miss USA, reports USA Today. In a statement posted on Instagram, the 11th-grader said she was stepping down after "months of grappling with the decision." She said she had decided to resign because her "personal values no longer fully align with the direction of the organization." The post included a quote from Friedrich Nietzsche: "There are no beautiful surfaces without a terrible depth."
"I will always look back on my time as Miss NJ Teen USA fondly, and the experience of representing my state as a first generation, Mexican-Indian American at the national level was fulfilling in itself," Srivastava wrote. Voigt, who cited the need to protect her mental health in her resignation announcement Monday, commented, "I LOVE YOU! So proud of you my angel," the Washington Post reports. "We respect and support UmaSofia's decision to step down from her duties," the pageant said in an Instagram post. "The well-being of our titleholders is a top priority."
Voigt's resignation came days after Miss USA's social media director resigned, saying titleholders "should be heard and not silenced," the BBC reports. Claudia Michelle said Voigt's "ability to share her story and her platform have been diminished" and she had seen a decline in her mental health since they started working together. In an odd twist, fans noticed that the first letters of the sentences in Voigt's resignation statement spelled out "I AM SILENCED"—or "I AM SILENCED HIP" when the last three sentences were included. (More Miss Teen USA stories.)
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