Breaking News
A former Miss USA has chosen to leave us…
Cheslie Kryst, an Extra correspondent and former Miss USA, has died after a fall from her high-rise Manhattan apartment building. She was 30.
Her family confirmed the news to The Hollywood Reporter in a Sunday statement. “Her great light was one that inspired others around the world with her beauty and strength,” it read. “She cared, she loved, she laughed and she shined.” The family said that the pageant-winner had “embodied love and served others” and that “her impact will live on.” The family asked for privacy at this time as they reflect on their loss.
Kryst’s body was found at 7:05 a.m. Sunday, on the sidewalk outside the Orion Condominium building, where she was a resident on the ninth floor, in Manhattan. She was last seen on a terrace 29 stories above the ground.
Sources in the New York Police Department have confirmed that Kryst had died by suicide, according to the Post and The Hollywood Reporter. The Post reported that Kryst had left behind a note leaving her possessions to her mother. The note didn’t include a motive for Kryst’s actions, sources said. “Not only beautiful but she was smart — she was a lawyer,” a police source said of Kryst. “She has a life that anyone would be jealous of. … It’s so sad.”
Kryst wrote in an Instagram caption posted just hours before her fatal fall.
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Following news of her death, tributes from friends and fans poured in. “Rest peacefully sister,” Olivia Jordan, who won the Miss USA title in 2015, wrote on Kryst’s final Instagram post. “The world will miss you and the light you shone so bright.”
Miss Universe 2018 Catriona Gray honored her fellow beauty queen by sharing a photo of them together.
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“Ches… I can’t believe the news. Rest in peace, angel. The world will miss your light,” she wrote on Instagram with a dove emoji. Catriona also tagged Cheslie’s account. Catriona likewise urged her fans to reach out to their friends and loved ones, especially amid these times of isolation due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
The Miss Universe Organization also said that it is mourning the loss of “one of the brightest, warmest, and most kind people.”
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Aside from these personalities, former beauty queens Miss USA 2016 Deshauna Barber and Miss Universe 2016 and Miss Universe 2021 selection committee member Iris Mittenaere also took to social media to express their sympathy for the demise of Cheslie.
The 30-year-old began competing in pageants as a teenager, following in the footsteps of her mother, April Simpkins, who was crowned Mrs. North Carolina US in 2002. Kryst remembered being in middle school and watching Simpkins “clean up all these awards” in a 2020 interview with The Charlotte Observer.
“I didn’t have a lot of friends, I was a nerdy weird kid who just liked to read during class, and it was so cool that people knew my name because of my mom,” she said. “And so from that moment, I knew I was going to compete at some point in time.” Kryst won the Miss USA title in 2019, just months after she’d clinched the Miss North Carolina USA crown. While competing, she remembered in a 2021 essay for Allure magazine, she spoke openly about her views “on the legalization of marijuana, the Trump Administration’s immigration policies, anti-abortion laws, the confirmation of Justice Amy Coney Barrett, and the successes and failures of criminal justice reform. I openly supported the resurgence of the Black Lives Matter movement and marched in protests over the summer,” Kryst continued. “I wasn’t searching to collect more awards or recognition during my reign. Rather, I fed the passion that made waking up each morning feel worthwhile: speaking out against injustice.”
At 28 years old, Kryst became the oldest woman to ever be crowned Miss USA. She went on to also become the longest-reigning victor, thanks to delays caused by the COVID-19 pandemic, holding the title for a record 557 days.
Outside of pageantry, Kryst practiced as a civil litigation attorney, having earned her law degree and an MBA from Wake Forest University. She worked as a global impact ambassador with Dress for Success, a nonprofit supporting low-income women searching for jobs, and wrote about business attire on a blog called White Collar Glam.
After her Miss USA win, Kryst also became a New York correspondent for celebrity and entertainment program Extra. Her work on the show garnered her two Daytime Emmy nominations.
“Our hearts are broken,” a Sunday statement from Extra read. “Cheslie was not just a vital part of our show, she was a beloved part of our Extra family and touched the entire staff. Our deepest condolences to all her family and friends.”
Chelsie left us. We are heartbroken to lose this extraordinary young woman. No words can express our sorrow. We extend our deepest condolences to his family and friends. We hope she has found peace, but it is sure that she will remain forever at the bottom of our hearts which bleeds to have lost her… Rest in peace Chelsie
