Miss USA 2024 Alma Cooper skips 2025 pageant hours before she was to crown successor
Miss USA 2024 Alma Cooper revealed that she wouldn’t attend the iconic pageant or crown her successor in Nevada on Friday night — just hours before the event started.Cooper made the “extremely difficult decision” to skip the Miss USA 2025 event in Reno, Nev., as she announced her time has come to step away from beauty pageants.“As I close this chapter, I do so with the knowledge that I finished what I started with integrity and my self-worth held high, just like the crown I was honored to wear,” Cooper wrote in the cryptic Instagram post.The 23-year-old West Point graduate represented her home state of Michigan in last year’s contest, where she won and represented her country at Miss Universe 2024.“In every aspect of my life, I am always in pursuit of excellence,” Cooper said.“I brought that same attitude with me when I won the title of Miss USA, energized by the opportunity to inspire youth across the globe at Miss Universe and within communities across the nation.
“I am a firm believer that excellence means nothing if it stops with me, instead I want my growth to be something others can build on.”Cooper’s post was accompanied by photos of her wearing a mini dress and her Miss USA sash on the campus of Stanford University, where she is a Knight Hennessy Fellow.Cooper did not place at the global pageant last year in Mexico, where Miss Denmark Victoria Kjær Theilvig was crowned Miss Universe 2024.She did not give a reason for her absence at Friday night’s event, where it is tradition for the previous year’s winner to crown their successor.Cooper detailed the hardships she faced when she became the first active-duty Army officer to be crowned Miss USA.“I felt a responsibility as a role model for others, and I refused to let anyone down.Still, the pressure of working under such harsh circumstances while staring down the fast-approaching Miss Universe competition, where I’d face women competing with the full support of their countrie...