Miss USA and Miss Teen USA’s moms call out pageant president Laylah Rose

UmaSofia resigned the title citing bullying by management two days after Noella stepped down for mental health reasons

The mothers of former Miss USA 2023 Noelia Voigt and former Miss Teen USA 2023 UmaSofia Srivastava discussed their daughters' unexpected resignations.

Jackeline Voigt, Noelia's mother, and Barbara Srivastava, UmaSofia's mother, appeared on Good Morning America to talk about why their daughters resigned and to advocate for changes in the Miss USA pageant system.

“I want to make [it] clear, it’s not about what they can get, the prizes… it’s about how they were ill-treated, abused, bullied and cornered,” Barbara claimed. "The job of their dreams turned out to be a nightmare."

Barbara asserted that UmaSofia, who resigned her title on May 8, two days after Noelia, experienced bullying from Miss Teen USA management and missed out on opportunities as a result, but she did not provide further details.

She further claimed that her daughter's social media account had been monitored and controlled by management.

Regarding Noelia, who resigned on Monday, May 6, citing mental health reasons, her mother, Jackeline, told Good Morning America that she sensed something was amiss after an interaction with her daughter following an incident at a Christmas parade.

“I saw Noelia so stressed out, and I said, ‘What happened?,’ “ Jackeline recounted. “And she said, ‘Mom, get in the car, get in the car.’ When I got in the car, I said, ‘What happened?’ Because I know [a man] said something but I couldn’t get it.”

She went on, “[The man] told Noelia, ‘Are you into old [men] with money?’ And made Noelia very, very uncomfortable.”

The Miss USA organisation stated to ABC News,"We are committed to fostering a healthy, communicative and supportive environment for all contestants, state titleholders, national titleholders and staff."

Jackeline stated that Miss USA CEO and President Laylah Rose's response to the incident was that the organization couldn't control what people say to the titleholder during public appearances — a response that the concerned mother criticized on Good Morning America.

“[Not] even, ‘I’m sorry that you went through that?' “ she remarked. “... [Noelia] was so upset. This is not what she worked so hard for.”

Following Noelia's resignation, Barbara stated that her daughter, UmaSofia, felt she had to do the same.

“When she saw that they were tying [in] Noelia’s mental health [to her resignation], she said, ‘I cannot stand for this. I need to stand up [for] Noelia,’ ” she remembered.

Jackeline and Barbara demanded Rose's resignation as president and urged the Miss USA pageant to “come out and speak to us [and] apologize or clean this mess.”

The moms asserted that their daughters were bound by a nondisclosure agreement, preventing them from discussing their experiences. They also advised potential Miss USA contestants and their parents to reconsider participating in future pageants.