There is a recent sad news thralling the pageant world as Chelsi Smith, the first and only Texan to wear the royal Miss Universe crown, died on on Saturday after a strong battle with liver cancer,she died at age 45,what a great loss.
Pageant biography of late miss universe Chelsi Smith.
The beauty queen from Deer Park began her 1994 victory streak at the Miss Galveston and Miss Texas pageants, where she celebrated her biracial heritage and vowed to take on racism. She snagged the coveted Miss USA title in 1995.
She was 22 and attending San Jacinto College when judges at the Miss Universe competition in Namibia, Africa, tapped her the winner over 81 other contestants.
Jarrod Klawinsky, a spokesman for Smith, said she was diagnosed with cancer in spring 2017.
“It just got worse throughout 2017, and this year she became extremely weak,” Klawinsky told the Houston Chronicle.
Furthermore, in August, Smith went to her mother’s home in Pennsylvania, where she remained until she died Saturday afternoon. A statement from Smith’s family lauded her as “an example to young women around the world.”
“We are heartbroken to share the news that Chelsi Smith has passed away following a protracted illness,” the statement read. “Chelsi was our loving daughter, niece, and friend. We will miss her infectious laughter, joie de vivre, and free spirit. She left an indelible mark on all those who knew her.”
“If people are going to know me,” Smith told the Houston Post, “I just think it’s important for them to know I’m half-black and half-white and that it hasn’t been a disadvantage.”
She looked back on her pageantry life with disenchantment for allowing her to doubt her identity. “You forget who you really are and where you came from and why you are there,” she said in 1997, after relinquishing her Miss Universe crown.
Life after pageant reign.
When she dropped off from Miss Universe competition, she kicked off her music career in Los Angeles. But she called Houston home and lived in Montrose, where she worked as a pageant coach.
The deceased is survived by her mother, Mary Denise Trimble, and aunt, Paulette Trimble. Arrangement for Chelsi smith’s memorial is currently being made by families and friends in Houston.