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This past week someone in the public eye that I truly admire took her own life. I never had the opportunity to meet her, I was just a supportive and adoring fan, but this news really crushed me. This beautiful young woman to be in so much pain, to feel so lost that she didn’t feel another way out, the visual of her last morning, of her decision, has really shook me to my core.

In 2019, I stumbled upon the Miss USA pageant and my roommate and I just started to casually watch, they were on the top 20, soon we spotted the radiant, Miss North Carolina, Cheslie Kryst. We called it from that moment that she was the winner. The light, the energy, her demeanor, the provoking and effective answers she gave to the questions. WINNER!!! We felt justified and validated when they finally said “Our 2019 Miss USA is Cheslie Kryst”!! DUH of course it is!

I have followed her career, saw the highlight reel of her life on social media and really just admired her. A few weeks ago once again scrolling through tv, my mom and I watched the Miss Universe pageant and there she was hosting with Carson Creasly! As radiant and stunning as ever! I just saw this beautiful person on tv. I just saw her on extra. I just saw her post this picture of herself with a fun wig on Instagram. To then scroll through Instagram last Sunday and see a headline with her name in it saying she took her own life. Was truly the most radical absurd thing I have ever read. HER!?? WHAT! I ran into the bathroom to tell my mother, she was completely nude, but I still swung the door open because she knew who she was…