Current:Home > BackMiss USA 2019 Cheslie Kryst Details Mental Health Struggles in Posthumous Memoir-LoTradeCoin
Miss USA 2019 Cheslie Kryst Details Mental Health Struggles in Posthumous Memoir
View Date:2024-12-23 19:52:42
Cheslie Kryst's memory lives on.
Two years after the pageant star died by suicide at the age of 30, her family is releasing her posthumous memoir, By the Time You Read This: The Space Between Cheslie's Smile and Mental Illness, to help shed light on the difficulties she faced, even after winning Miss USA in 2019.
"Just hours after my win, I had to delete vomit-face emojis that a few accounts had plastered all over the comments on my Instagram page," she wrote in an excerpt published by People on April 22. "More than one person messaged me telling me to kill myself."
Cheslie explained that the hateful comments overshadowed her victory and worsened her mental health.
"All of this only added to my long-standing insecurities—the feeling that everyone around me knew more than I did, that everyone else was better at my job, and that I didn't deserve this title," she continued. "People would soon find out I was a fraud. I felt like an imposter, but not just in pageants."
Being in the spotlight ultimately made her feel like a failure, as she was "meticulously picked apart" in her interviews.
"Winning Miss USA hadn't made my imposter syndrome go away," she said. "Instead, I was waiting for people to realize I didn't have a clue about what I was doing."
And while she tried to "focus my thoughts on positive statements of power," Cheslie explained that the positivity "only lasted for so long."
By the Time You Read This is set to debut on April 23, with proceeds from the book going to the Cheslie C. Kryst Foundation, which offers mental health supports for youth and young adults. The book is a collaboration between Cheslie and her mother April Simpkins, who, prior to Cheslie's passing, received a note from her daughter asking that she ensure the memoir be published.
April has been open about Cheslie's mental health struggles and raising awareness ever since the beauty queen died by suicide in January 2022 in New York.
"Cheslie led both a public and a private life," she told E! News later that year. "In her private life, she was dealing with high-functioning depression which she hid from everyone—including me, her closest confidant—until very shortly before her death."
"I have never known a pain as deep as this," she added. "I am forever changed."
If you or someone you know needs help, call 988 to reach the Suicide and Crisis Lifeline. You can also call the network, previously known as the National Suicide Prevention Lifeline, at 800-273-8255, text HOME to 741741 or visit SpeakingOfSuicide.com/resources for additional resources.veryGood! (6951)
Related
- Social media star squirrel euthanized after being taken from home tests negative for rabies
- 'Wait Wait' for September 9, 2023: With Not My Job guest Martinus Evans
- Why a nonprofit theater company has made sustainability its mission
- Powerful earthquake strikes Morocco, causing shaking in much of the country
- Fate of Netflix Series America’s Sweethearts: Dallas Cowboys Cheerleaders Revealed
- 'Star Trek' stars join the picket lines in Hollywood
- Coco Gauff plays Aryna Sabalenka in the US Open women’s final
- Huawei is releasing a faster phone to compete with Apple. Here's why the U.S. is worried.
- Today's Craig Melvin Replacing Hoda Kotb: Everything to Know About the Beloved Anchor
- Appeals court slaps Biden administration for contact with social media companies
Ranking
- Will the NBA Cup become a treasured tradition? League hopes so, but it’s too soon to tell
- On ‘João’, Brazilian singer Bebel Gilberto honors her late father, bossa nova giant João Gilberto
- Jimmy Buffett's new music isn't over yet: 3 songs out now, album due in November
- Andy Reid deserves the blame for Chiefs' alarming loss to Lions in opener
- Republican David Schweikert wins reelection in affluent Arizona congressional district
- Families in Gaza have waited years to move into new homes. Political infighting is keeping them out
- New Mexico governor issues order to suspend open and concealed carry of guns in Albuquerque
- How Germany stunned USA in FIBA World Cup semifinals and what's next for the Americans
Recommendation
-
West Virginia governor-elect Morrisey to be sworn in mid-January
-
A southern Swiss region votes on a plan to fast-track big solar parks on Alpine mountainsides
-
Derek Jeter returns, Yankees honor 1998 team at Old-Timers' Day
-
Unraveling long COVID: Here's what scientists who study the illness want to find out
-
Roy Haynes, Grammy-winning jazz drummer, dies at 99: Reports
-
Republicans’ opposition to abortion threatens a global HIV program that has saved 25 million lives
-
Why a nonprofit theater company has made sustainability its mission
-
Ashton Kutcher and Mila Kunis Wrote Letters Supporting Danny Masterson Ahead of Rape Case Sentencing