The Miss Universe 2025 pageant isn’t cooling down anytime soon. In fact, it just detonated. Two contestants from opposite sides of the world — Estonia’s Brigitta Schaback and Vietnam’s Huong Giang — have unleashed explosive accusations that the pageant’s famed advocacy for empowerment and inclusivity is nothing but a glossy marketing slogan masking a toxic culture behind the scenes.
The firestorm began when Schaback, who proudly entered the competition as a modern mother determined to prove that pageants could finally embrace real women, dropped a series of scathing Instagram Stories over the weekend. Instead of celebrating female empowerment, she claimed she was repeatedly told to “stay silent and obey,” saying the experience felt like stepping back into an era where women were expected to sit pretty, smile, and follow orders.
She described herself as having “signed up for the wrong pageant,” adding that Miss Universe’s public embrace of mothers and married women was nothing more than a publicity prop. She alleged that organizers demanded she repeatedly disclose her status as a mother — on forms, in interviews, and even during jury screenings — despite loudly advertising that it wouldn’t matter. For Schaback, the message was clear: empowerment onstage, but control behind the curtain.
The Estonian beauty said the hypocrisy felt like “ripping her own spine” every time she was asked to stay quiet. By Sunday, she officially cut ties with the pageant, resigning her title and publicly stating that her values had become incompatible with those of the national director. Schaback insisted she would advocate for women on her own terms, far away from what she now calls a system rooted in discrimination.
And just when pageant fans thought the drama had peaked, Vietnam’s Huong Giang delivered her own bombshell — this time in a livestream that quickly went viral across Asia. Giang accused the Miss Universe Organization of performing inclusivity only when cameras were rolling. She said the so-called progressive era ended the moment Anne Jakrajutatip stepped down, claiming the pageant has quietly reverted to the old formula that once dominated during the Trump years: sexier, fierier, flashier — and strictly within a narrow physical mold.
Giang alleged that the shift was so sudden that contestants only realized the change “a few days before the finals,” adding that the competition suddenly wanted performances that were “fiery and sexy,” far from the advocacy-driven image it claimed to uphold.
Her comments poured gasoline on an already raging inferno. Fans who were still reeling from allegations that Mexico’s Fatima Bosch’s victory had been predetermined — a claim made by resigned judge Omar Harfouch — now had even more reason to question the integrity of the pageant. With accusations of rigged results, silenced contestants, and a supposed return to outdated standards, Miss Universe 2025 is now facing the harshest scrutiny it has seen in decades.
Between queens stepping down, livestream exposés, and claims that empowerment was only a costume worn for sponsors and press releases, this year’s Miss Universe has spiraled into a spectacle far more dramatic than anything that unfolded onstage. And with more contestants reportedly preparing to speak out, the world’s most glamorous pageant may soon be fighting for its own crown — the crown of credibility.
