When Noelia Voigt gave up her title as Miss USA, she did not go quietly and cited a toxic work environment.
That’s according to her letter of resignation, which claimed Miss USA CEO and President Laylah Rose did not take a sexual harassment complaint seriously, NBC News reported. NBC obtained a copy of her letter, which contains more detailed information than the statement she released.
“There is a toxic work environment within the Miss USA organization that, at best, is poor management and, at worst, is bullying and harassment,” Voigt said in her letter. “This started soon after winning the title of Miss USA 2023.”
Voigt’s resignation Monday started a domino effect as Miss Teen USA UmaSofia Srivastava, 17, resigned on Wednesday. Srivastava said her “personal values no longer fully align with the direction of the organization.”
Voigt said in her statement to the public that she was resigning to focus on her mental health. When Voigt’s statement was released, people saw that the first letter of each sentence in her letter spelled out “I am silenced.”
Voigt is the first Miss USA in the pageant’s 72-year history to voluntarily step down, The Telegraph reported.
She said in her letter that Rose did not communicate well.
“It’s incredibly jarring to be trying to do my job and constantly be threatened with disciplinary action, including taking away my salary, for things that were never discussed with me and, if it related to a public-facing post for example, were causing no issue other than not meeting her personal preference,” Voigt said.
In response, Rose released a statement Wednesday, saying “the well-being of all individuals associated with Miss USA is my top priority.”
“All along, my personal goal as the head of this organization has been to inspire women to always create new dreams, have the courage to explore it all, and continue to preserve integrity along the way. I hold myself to these same high standards and I take these allegations seriously,” she said.
Voigt wrote in her letter about an alleged incident at a Christmas event in Florida when she was alone with a man in a car. The man “made several inappropriate statements to me about his desire to enter into a relationship with me.”
Voigt said Rose responded with, “We cannot prevent people saying things to you at public appearances, it is, unfortunately, part of the role you’re in as a public figure.”
Voigt also accused Rose of speaking badly about her, per NBC.
“I have heard that comments have ranged from her describing me as difficult to work with for various untrue reasons, to weaponizing my mental health struggles brought on by my experience as Miss USA 2023, calling me ‘mentally ill’ in a derogatory way, to expressing that she hoped I would get hit in the face by a baseball at an event where I would throw out the first pitch at a baseball game,” Voigt said in her letter.
As time went on, her mental health declined, she said.
“I am now diagnosed with Anxiety and have to take two medications daily to manage the symptoms due to consistently being on edge, worrying about what Laylah will pop up with and choose to harass me about daily,” she said in the letter.
She added she was having “heart palpitations, full body shakes, loss of appetite, unintentional weight loss, loss of sleep, loss of hair, and more.”
Claudia Michelle, a former social media manager, gave her resignation last week.
In an interview with NBC News Thursday, she talked about the mental health issue.
“Leaders in women’s empowerment organizations need to be held accountable,” Michelle said. “How do you not take the mental health of the face of your brand seriously?”
