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In this photo provided by Miss America, Alexis Smith was crowned Miss Kansas 2024 during a ceremony in Pratt, Kansas on June 8. Smith works the night shift as a nurse in the cardiothoracic intensive care unit in Wichita. (Photo courtesy of Miss America)
WICHITA, Kan. — Miss Kansas is using her crown and platform to raise awareness about domestic violence after publicly denounced her abuser onstage the night she won the title.
Alexis Smith, a cardiothoracic intensive care unit nurse who works the night shift in Wichita, was crowned Miss Kansas on June 8.
She later posted a video to social media on July 16th in which she commented on stage that the attacker was sitting in the audience.
Her video was watched The video has been viewed over 60,000 times and has generated numerous comments and news articles.
“My vision as the next Miss Kansas is to put an end to unhealthy and abusive relationships,” Smith said in an interview at the pageant last month. “In fact, some of you in the audience may have seen me getting quite emotional today because my abuser is here with us, but that’s not going to stop me from standing on this Miss Kansas stage and representing it as the next Miss Kansas.”
Alexis Gown. (Photo courtesy of Miss America)
Smith only recently took office and began voicing her concerns about the issue in interviews and social media posts. Her bold pageant statement against domestic violence and her courage to speak out have been praised by dozens of people online, and her video has been shared multiple times.
“My vision as the next Miss Kansas is to end unhealthy and abusive relationships” – Miss Kansas
The beauty queen said she cares deeply about the issue of domestic violence because not only has she been a victim, but so have many other women in her family.
“My family, all the women in my family were affected by domestic violence,” she told Wichita TV station KSN in an interview. “When I was 14, I was in my first relationship, which was also an abusive relationship that lasted until about 2018 or 2019. And that’s something that I still experience and deal with today.”
Smith said she even moved to Texas for a few years after escaping the relationship, before returning to Wichita and studying nursing at Newman University.
The Associated Press contributed to this report from Los Angeles.
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