A former Miss USA contestant who competed in the pageant in 2001, told The Guardian that Donald Trump barged into her dressing room while she and another woman were changing despite an apparent warning from security that the women were naked.
The contestant, who asked to be anonymous, said that they were getting dressed to practice the opening number at rehearsal when Trump burst into the room. She said she heard security personnel outside the room warn someone that the women were naked just before Trump entered the dressing room.
“Mr Trump just barged right in, didn’t say anything, stood there and stared at us,” she told The Guardian.
She described Trump’s attitude as, “I can do this because I can.”
“He didn’t walk in and say, ‘Oh, I’m so sorry, I was looking for someone,’” the former Miss USA contestant told The Guardian. “He walked in, he stood and he stared. He was doing it because he knew that he could.”
Her story follows another accusation from a 2001 former Miss USA contestant, Tasha Dixon, who told CBS LA that Trump walked into the dressing room while the contestants were changing into their bathing suits.
“Our first introduction to him was when we were at the dress rehearsal and half naked changing into our bikinis,” Dixon said. “He just came strolling right in. There was no second to put a robe on or any sort of clothing or anything. Some girls were topless. Other girls were naked.”
The contestant who spoke with The Guardian said that before Dixon’s account, she thought that she and the other women in her dressing room were the only ones to experience that behavior from Trump.
She said she did not initially speak up about Trump bursting into the dressing room because she didn’t feel she could speak out against Trump.
“This was my boss. I’m there to represent my state, my town, my reputation on one of the most prestigious stages on the planet,” she told The Guardian. “I had not a lot of experience under my belt. And it was horrifying … It was extremely uncomfortable from there forward.”
Another former contestant who competed in 2001 told The Guardian that Trump never walked into the dressing room while she was undressed, and she remembers Trump being backstage only during the actual event.
“The chaperones made announcements that he was there & would be coming into the dressing room,” she told The Guardian in an email. “They gave us all a heads up, it was also very close to the pageant starting & very brief. I would imagine that most, if not all contestants were already, or at least should have been, dressed to compete.”
She said that Trump only stood at the door and did not walk through the dressing room.
“I am not endorsing anyone, but giving an honest account of meeting Mr Trump,” the second contestant told The Guardian.
Trump has previously bragged about walking into the dressing rooms at his pageants on Howard Stern’s radio show in 2005. And several contestants in Miss Teen USA told Buzzfeed News that Trump entered their dressing room while they were changing.
