Newly crowned Miss Philippines Earth 2016 Imelda Schweighart has been touring and attending various media events and activities as the reigning queen. Shortly after being crowned as the winner Imelda revealed some darkest secret of the pageant world, during one such media tour. “I’m a victim of pageant bullying. There were vicious women in the pageant. Everybody hated me.”, yes this was the revelation that Imelda made.
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"I was bullied [because of] my physical looks… and of course pinaparingan ako (they would say things about me)... They stole stuff from me but it’s okay, I've forgiven them. God is great. He redeemed me, he saved me and he gave me truly what I deserve," she said.
The 21 years old beauty queen revealed that the most difficult part of the pageant was not on stage, it was in fact off the stage. “I lost my pageant heels, foundation and my only eye-shadow palette. Someone got those before coronation night,” she revealed. “The heels are essential because they improve my height.”
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Imelda disclosed that she even fell sick before the important closed-door preliminary competition, because of a certain type of oil she got from a fellow contestant who she doesn’t want to name. “She told me it’s a brain booster. That’s what’s written on the bottle. It smelled like eucalyptus. I won’t name names, but I trusted the girl who gave it to me, so I took it before I entered the room,” said Imelda.
She further added, “But it made my sinuses act up and gave me a sore throat. I still felt sick until coronation [night]. I even got a toothache and I felt pain all over,” she continued. Imleda shared that no one from her fellow contestants supported her and that there was no one who stood by her. “No one defended me. It was hard whenever I hear those things said about me. There were some who relayed to me what they heard [was being] said about me by the other girls.”
"Now I know that the power of attraction really works, because of KF [Kagandahang Flores], my mentors and my teachers, they were able to teach me how it really works. And if you really believe, you will truly achieve [something]."
The beauty queen is now looking forward to representing Philippines at the Miss Earth 2016 pageant, and shares that she doesn’t feel any pressure due to the back to back win by Jamie Herrell and Angelia Ong. "There’s no pressure at all because they are good advisers and they will guide my path. And I’m lucky that we’re in home court right now," she said.
Do you think Imelda can create a Hattrick for Philippines by winning the third Miss Earth crown in a row?
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