Donald Trump's sordid scandals from Miss USA pageant: How POTUS allegedly walked in on ‘naked, topless’ girls
The world of beauty pageants isn't as glamorous as it appears. President Donald Trump has a slanderous connection with the Miss Universe franchise as a string of scandals and sordid sagas hover over his dark past. From 1996 to 2015, the 74-year-old owned Miss USA and Miss Teen USA and was slapped with several sexual harassment allegations.
"I have truly enjoyed owning the Miss Universe, Miss USA, and Miss Teen USA pageants. When I purchased the pageants many years ago, they were in serious trouble. It has been a great honor making them so successful," Trump said in 2015. "The pageants are now in the hands of a great company that will shepherd them to even greater levels of success." Shockingly, in a 2005 Howard Stern interview, he himself admitted to his vulgar and crass behavior as the owner. Confessing that he walked walking into the contestants' dressing rooms unannounced while the women were undressed.
Here's a slice of their conversation:
Trump: “I’ll go backstage before a show and everyone’s getting dressed and ready and everything else. And you know, no men are anywhere. And I’m allowed to go in because I’m the owner of the pageant. And therefore, I’m inspecting it. You know I’m inspecting it. I want to make sure everything is good.”
Stern: “You’re like a doctor.”
Trump: “Is everyone OK? You know they’re standing there with no clothes. Is everybody OK? And you see these incredible looking women. And so I sort of get away with things like that.”
In the same interview, when Trump was asked if he ever slept with any contestants, he said, "It could be a conflict of interest." When Stern imitated a foreign contestant — "Mr Trump, in my country, we say hello with vagina" — Trump jokingly responded, "Well, you could also say, as the owner of the pageant, it's your obligation to do that." In 1997, 2000, 2001 and 2006, several contestants specifically alleged that Trump entered their private dressing rooms while they were undressed.
Mariah Billado, Miss Vermont Teen USA, is one of five women to openly sketch out the details. Mulling over her memories from 1997, Billado said of the visit: "I remember putting on my dress really quick, because I was like, 'Oh my god, there's a man in here'. Trump, she recalled, said something like, 'Don't worry, ladies, I've seen it all before.'" Billado recalled talking to Ivanka, Trump's daughter, who responded "Yeah, he does that."
In fact, Victoria Hughes, Miss New Mexico Teen USA, confirmed that he did conduct a dressing-room visit, and also mentioned that the youngest contestant there was 15. The dressing room had 51 contestants, each with their own stations. Eleven girls said they did not see Trump enter the dressing room, though some said it was possible that he had entered while they were somewhere else, or that they didn't notice.
Of the 15 former contestants who were interviewed by BuzzFeed News, none alleged Trump said anything sexually explicit or made physical contact in the dressing room, and reportedly, "Most of the former contestants were doubtful or dismissed the possibility that Trump violated their changing room privacy." Allison Bowman, Miss Wisconsin Teen USA, expressed skepticism: "These were teenage girls. If anything inappropriate had gone on, the gossip would have flown." Trump's campaign stated the allegations of his entering the dressing room "have no merit and have already been disproven by many other individuals who were present".
Here are some of the most appalling allegations:
Trump fat shamed Miss Venezuela
In 1996, Trump called Miss Universe Alicia Machado of Venezuela "an eating machine" on the Howard Stern Show after she was told that she would lose her crown to Miss Universe Aruba Taryn Mansell if she didn't watch her weight gain. This fat-shaming remark by Trump sparked harsh reactions from fans and viewers as the biggest fat-shaming incident by far.
Bridget Sullivan said contestants 'were all naked'
In 2000, Bridget Sullivan was Miss New Hampshire USA. As she prepared for a television broadcast, Trump allegedly walked into the dressing room. She told BuzzFeed he was coming to wish the contestants good luck, but they "were all naked". Some contestants that night do not remember him entering and many others said they had no negative experiences with Trump. At the time, a spokesman for Trump denied it and said Sullivan's claims were "totally false".
'Some girls were topless, other girls were naked'
Tasha Dixon, Miss Arizona USA 2001, told a CBS affiliate in Los Angeles that in 2001, "[Trump] just came strolling right in. There was no second to put a robe on or any sort of clothing or anything. Some girls were topless, other girls were naked." She reflected on how being walked in on put the girls in a "very physically vulnerable position, and then to have the pressure of the people that work for him telling us to go fawn all over him, go walk up to him, talk to him..." However, another contestant defended him. Miss California USA Carrie Prejean Boller, told the same CBS affiliate it was wrong to paint Trump that way. At the time, Trump's spokeswoman Jessica Ditto said: "These accusations have no merit and have already been disproven by many other individuals who were present," adding that the accusations stemmed from political motivations.
'Trump stood there and stared at us'
Another Miss USA contestant — who didn't want to be named — said that in 2001 Trump walked into her dressing room unannounced while she and another contestant were undressed. She told The Guardian, Trump "just barged right in, didn't say anything, stood there and stared at us... He didn't walk in and say, 'Oh, I'm so sorry, I was looking for someone'. He walked in, he stood and he stared. He was doing it because he knew that he could."
'He eyed me like a piece of meat'
Four years ago in 2016, Samantha Carol Holvey, Miss North Carolina USA 2006, opened up about Trump's way and called him "creepy" around the women participating. She also said that he never made an advance toward her. Before pageant events, she narrated how Trump "moved into areas where she and other contestants were getting ready", and that she had "never been around men that were like that".
During the #MeToo movement, Holvey wrote: "You can't work in Hollywood if you're a sexual predator, but you can become the commander-in-chief?" She then opened up about how Trump made her feel very uncomfortable at the 2006 Miss USA pageant: "He eyed me like a piece of meat. I was shocked and disgusted. I have never felt so objectified. I left the meet-and-greet hoping that this would be my one and only encounter with him." She also described how he had come backstage unannounced, with Melania Trump: "I was shocked — again — by this violation of our personal space. What was he doing, coming backstage when we were still getting dressed?"
Now, as Trump loses to Biden in the 2020 elections and refuses to concede, these harrowing tales are an eye-opener. Earlier, Trump and his supporters have negated the stories involving women from his past saying they were being pushed by the Hillary Clinton campaign, the media and other opponents. The winner of Miss USA 2020 pageant will be announced live from Elvis Presley's Graceland in Memphis, Tennessee, and you can catch all the action on November 9, at 8/7c and FYI will serve as the new broadcaster of the pageant, replacing Fox, which had broadcast the pageant since 2016.