Mothers of former Miss USA 2023 and Miss Teen USA 2023 speak out: They were bullied

Weeks after Miss USA 2023 Noelia Voigt and Miss Teen USA 2023 UmaSofia Srivastava resigned from their titles, their mothers have opened up about their daughters' decisions and claimed they were 'ill-treated, abused and bullied'. 

Noelia’s mother Jackeline Voigt and UmaSofia’s mother Barbara Srivastava appeared on Good Morning America to discuss the reasons behind their daughters' resignations and to call for changes within the Miss USA pageant system.

"I want to make (it) clear, it’s not about what they can get, the prizes… it’s about how they were ill-treated, abused, bullied and cornered,” Barbara alleged. "The job of their dreams turned out to be a nightmare."

Barbara claimed that UmaSofia — who gave up her crown on May 8, two days after Noelia — faced bullying by Miss Teen USA management and missed out on opportunities as a result. 

She also alleged that the management had put her daughter’s social media account under surveillance and control.

Meanwhile, Noelia's mother Jackeline said she knew something was wrong after an interaction with her daughter following an incident during a Christmas parade. 

“I saw Noelia so stressed out, and I said, ‘What happened?,’" Jackeline recalled. “And she said, ‘Mom, get in the car, get in the car.’ When I got in the car, I said, ‘What happened?’ Because I know (a man) said something but I couldn’t get it.”

She continued, “(The man) told Noelia, ‘Are you into old (men) with money?’ And made Noelia very, very uncomfortable.”

Noelia stepped down on Monday, May 6 stating she wanted to focus on her mental health.

The Miss USA organisation told ABC News, "We are committed to fostering a healthy, communicative and supportive environment for all contestants, state titleholders, national titleholders and staff."

Noelia had seemingly alluded to the incident in her resignation letter but reportedly wrote, “I was made to feel unsafe at events without an effective handler, and this culminated in being sexually harassed…”

The model's mother Jackeline said Miss USA CEO and President Layla Rose’s response to the incident was that the organisation would not be able to prevent people from saying things to the titleholder during public appearances.

"(Not) even, ‘I’m sorry that you went through that?'" she said. “... (Noelia) was so upset. This is not what she worked so hard for.”

Noelia’s resignation helped UmaSofia take her decision to step down, the teenager's mother revealed. 

“When she saw that they were tying (in) Noelia’s mental health (to her resignation), she said, ‘I cannot stand for this. I need to stand up (for) Noelia,’" she recalled.

Both mothers called for Rose to step down as president and for the Miss USA pageant to “come out and speak to us (and) apologise or clean this mess.”