Former Miss USA Noelia Voigt, who gave up the title last week to prioritize her mental health, was reportedly subject to “inappropriate advances” by a driver.
The Independent reported that the beauty pageant winner was traveling in the backseat of a car during a Christmas parade in Sarasota, Florida, when her driver, described as an older man, allegedly made uncomfortable comments suggesting he wanted a relationship with Voigt, 24.
“He was saying, how he was older and he had money, that kind of thing,” claimed Claudia Michelle, a friend of Voigt who recently resigned as the Miss USA organization’s social media manager due to “bullying” and “toxicity.”
“She literally couldn’t escape it. What was she going to do, step out of the car and walk away in the middle of the parade? She was stuck.”
Michelle, who, unlike Voigt, is not bound by a non-disclosure agreement, highlighted the security’s inadequacies, which she claimed were due to a lack of funds necessary for Miss USA president Laylah Rose to run the organization.
Voigt, who was supposed to “booked and busy” during her reign, “should have been traveling with a bodyguard, with a handler, at all times.”
“The role of the handler in the pageant world is to almost be like a bodyguard in the sense where they’re the eyes, ears and voice for Noelia – to kind of speak up,” Michelle continued.
“It would have been in that handler’s best interest to speak up and say something, you know, ‘that’s not appropriate, that’s not okay,’ right then and there, and squash it out.”
Where Miss USA titleholders are usually treated as “celebrities,” Voigt, instead, was staying at her boyfriend’s college housing in Alabama or with her family in Florida, Michelle claimed.
“I’ve seen state pageants run better than the way Miss USA was being handled and run under the current direction,” Michelle said.
An inside source previously told The Post that both the handler and Rose had ignored Voigt’s allegations of harassment after the holiday parade.
“Laylah said, ‘Well you’re going to have to get used to that because you’re in a public role now,’” the source claimed.
The Post has reached out to the Miss USA organization for comment.
Voigt’s decision to relinquish the crown to focus on her mental wellbeing comes amid the a flurry of resignations within the organization that, sources previously claimed to The Post, are due to a “toxic” environment.
Miss Teen USA winner UmaSofia Srivastava, 17, also stepped down after saying her personal values “no longer fully align with the direction of the organization.” The crown’s runner-up, Miss Teen New York Stephanie Skinner, 19, also declined the title.
Insiders previously told The Post that the decision to give up the crown “was not easy” for Voigt nor Srivastava, who allegedly “decided to do this together.”
“They are afraid of speaking out more at this time because of the organization,” the anonymous insider told The Post. “They don’t want this to have any lasting harmful effect on their futures.”
Srivastava’s mother, Barbara, told The Independent that she believes both her daughter and Voigt experienced “mental abuse” at the hands of Rose, allegedly “tormented” and “threatened” them.
Rose replaced the organization’s former president Crystle Stewart last year but is now being urged to step down by Michelle and the mothers of the former titleholders.
