Trigger Warning: This article contains references to suicide
Cheslie Kryst, who was crowned Miss USA in 2019, passed away by suicide at the age of 30. The new memoir that she wrote before passing away, By The Time You Read This: The Space Between Chelsie’s Smile And Mental Illness, reveals the agony she faced just before ending her life.
As reported by People, Kryst left behind a note to her mother just before she died. The note asked her mother to fulfill her final wish of publishing the memoir she had been writing before passing away. Her mother, April Simpkins fulfilled her daughter’s last request. She added her own experience at the end of the book. Kryst’s mother has shared about the moment she learned that her daughter was gone. She also mentioned the lessons she learned while grieving her daughter’s tragic death.
Who was Cheslie Kryst?
According to Wikipedia, Cheslie was born on April 28, 1991, in Jackson, Michigan. The family would later move to Rock Hill, South Carolina. She attended Northwestern High School. The family would again move later to Fort Mill, South Carolina. She transferred to Fort Mill High School and graduated in 2009.
After graduating from high school, Kryst attended Darla Moore School Of Business and earned a degree in Marketing and Human Resource Management in 2013. After completing her undergraduate degree, she attended Wake Forest University School Of Law and graduated with a Juris Doctor and Master Of Business Administration in 2017. After graduating, she practiced law working as a civil litigation attorney at Poyner Spruill LLP.
She started her pageantry journey as a teenager. Kryst won the crown as Miss USA at the age of 28 in 2019, in the same year she also worked as a New York City correspondent for the show Extra. In 2020, she earned her first Emmy nomination in the category of Outstanding Entertainment News Programme as a correspondent on Extra. Kryst was nominated again in 2021 in the same category.
Cheslie Kryst’s memoir reveals her struggles before her tragic death
As reported by People, the exclusive excerpt from Kryst’s memoir revealed the hard time she faced before her death. Reflecting on her Miss USA win, Cheslie wrote, “Just hours after my win, I had to delete vomit-face emojis that a few accounts had plastered all over the comments on my Instagram page. More than one person messaged me telling me to kill myself.”
Her memoir mentioned that all of this added to her long-standing insecurities. She felt that everyone around her knew more than she did and she felt like an imposter.
Kryst added, “Over the next few weeks, the media coverage continued. I almost always suppressed my panicky thoughts and feelings of inadequacy during my interviews.” She revealed that she felt like a failure afterward. She was waiting for people to realize that she did not have any clue about what she was doing.
She continued, “I’d perfected how to deal with that feeling in competition or in small doses– I could compartmentalize anything in short bursts.” Cheslie mentioned that she would immediately focus on her positive thoughts but that only lasted for so long.
The former Miss USA, Cheslie Kryst breathed her last on Jan 30, 2022.
If you know someone who is having suicidal thoughts, anxiety, going through depression, or is suffering from a serious mental illness, reach out to a nearby doctor, mental health expert, or an NGO for immediate help. There are several helplines available for the same
