Alexis Smith, who won the title back in June, revealed during her final interview question that her abuser was in the audience at the pageant.
The recently crowned Miss Kansas, Alexis Smith, says she is using her new title to advocate for healthy relationships after being surrounded by domestic violence most of her life.
It even played a role on the night she was crowned.
She recently posted a video from the interview portion of the Miss Kansas pageant. During an answer to an interview question, she tells the audience that her abuser is in the audience.
“My vision as the next Miss Kansas is to eliminate unhealthy and abusive relationships,” Smith said. “Matter of fact, some of you in this audience saw me very emotional because my abuser is here today. But that’s not going to stop me from being on this Miss Kansas stage (the audience erupts in cheers) and from representing as the next Miss Kansas!”
Smith’s platform is Respect Reclaimed: Advocating for Healthy Relationships. She shared part of her story on KSN News at Noon on Thursday.
“My family, every single woman in my family, was impacted by domestic violence,” she said. “At the age of 14, I got in my first relationship, but it was also an abusive relationship that I was in until about 2018, 2019. It’s something that I’m still experiencing and dealing with today.”
Smith also appeared to inspire other women to take a stance, including a commenter who described themselves as a victim of domestic violence and wrote, “I plan on helping women like us as well.”
TODAY.com has reached out to Smith, as well as the Miss Kansas and Miss America organizations for comment, but had not heard back at the time the story was published.
In a July 18 interview with KSNW, an NBC affiliate in Wichita, Kansas, Smith reiterated that as Miss Kansas she hopes to continue “advocating for healthy relationships” following her “personal experience of falling into my relationship of domestic violence.”
Her powerful statement not only drew loud cheers from the crowd but started making rounds on social media.
As her clip went viral, Smith explained her Respect Reclaimed initiative on TikTok that it “is about reclaiming your power and standing firmly in it.” “On the night of Miss Kansas, my journey took an unexpected turn when someone I have been healing from tried to disrupt my peace,” the ICU nurse recalled.