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Costa Rican model and entrepreneur Leonora Jimenez, became the target of social media critics and attacks after making a controversial comment regarding Miss Canada Siera Bearchell.
Leonora commented that her favorite candidate for the Miss Universe crown was the representative of Kenya, Mary Esther Were; when one of her followers asked what her opinion would be if Miss Canada won, since she had stood out from the rest not being as thin, to what Jimenez replied “She is not my favorite, but it has nothing to do with the fact that she is a bit fat”.
As expected many replies followed, mostly critiquing the model for her unsuitable comment.
Jimenez finally decided to make a statement to try to put an end to the controversy, and through a video she commented:
“To me it is very important to clarify the topic about the Miss Canada tweet I indeed wrote. I was talking specifically about a beauty pageant, and every beauty pageant has, implicitly, certain standards, that doesn’t mean I share them, that doesn’t mean I like them, I am quite sure nobody believes that the 70 most beautiful women in the world are those participating in Miss Universe, beauty is everywhere. I also believe most of us don’t think that the beauty standards from a beauty contests are the same that apply to the social standards. A beauty pageant has nothing to do with reality and everyday life. But the truth is that in modeling just like in sports or other industries, there are certain standards that we are subjected to, I have been subject to them as a model, when I’ve participated in a casting and many times they’ve told me I am too skinny or too fat, or too tall or too short, that is something I have to accept as part of my work, as part of a decision I’ve made to be part of a world that has certain characteristics, and that happens to the participants in beauty pageants and athletes”.
Leonora went on to clarify that she does believe in the diversity of beauty and has promoted it from her fashion magazine (Traffic) and other platforms. She also called out all the different people that took advantage of this tweet “which was taken out of context” to attack her personally and insult her in different ways.
