The Miss America competitors are being open about the bad habits they claim have defined the contentious beauty competition.
Mallory Hagan, a former Miss America, discussed some of the disordered eating and drug abuse that took place behind the scenes of the competition after women attempted to achieve a certain body type in an exclusive preview of Monday’s episode of AandE’s Secrets of Miss America that PEOPLE was given access to.
“As I was competing, I noticed laxatives, caffeine pills, diet pills, and other items that probably shouldn’t be sold in a market. I saw prescription drug abuse, you name it,” recalled Hagen, who represented Miss New York and won the 2013 Miss America pageant.
She continued, sharing pictures of herself in the gym as a younger woman, “I haven’t had water for 24 hours before a swimsuit competition so that I would dehydrate myself to the point that you can see my muscles. “I’m not the only one, either.
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At Atlantic City Boardwalk Hall, contestants walk the runway after wearing swimwear.
Swimsuits are removed as the Miss America candidates walk the runway.
GETTY/DONALD KRAVITZ.
In the video, Miss America 2010 Caressa Cameron Jackson also discussed body image and how competitors frequently sought to be as thin as possible, contrasting it with the current body standards she claims are prevalent.
Jackson said, “I was told I was way too curvy all the time, which is insane because I would have never thought that at a size 0-2 I would be perceived as curvy. “The straight, stick-thin body type was like the gold standard. It wasn’t as super curvy as the Kardashians are now. ”.
Hagan continued, “It was an unrealistic standard to set and it’s an unrealistic standard to maintain.”.
The book Secrets of Miss America provides an inside look at the complex selection process. In it, more than 20 former contestants talk openly about the alleged mistreatment they received from Miss America organization executives, describing how the alleged slights occasionally had a serious negative impact on their mental health.
In an A&E description of the series, it is stated that “the special analyzes whistleblower leaked emails in 2017 exposing misogyny within the Board of Directors, claims of racism in the pageant’s history, the topic of mental health surrounding the competition, and the banning of the controversial swimsuit competition.” It also states that viewers will get “a glimpse at the cost of wearing the crown and sash and how pageant culture perpetuated racism, bullying, body shaming, and much more. “.
Prior to the limited series’ premiere, Jackson told PEOPLE that she hoped the organization’s upper management would watch the show and adopt ways to become more progressive.
She said, “I’m hoping that by us being willing to share our story, that the people who are in charge right now will see it, will hear it, will understand our heart behind it, and will affect some of those changes so that for the next hundred years, [future] Miss America’s will have nothing but wonderful things to say.
