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Alexis Smith, winner of the Miss Kansas pageant, is attracting widespread attention for using her win to raise awareness of domestic violence, including calling out her own alleged abuser from the stage.
“Some of you out in this audience saw me very emotional because my abuser is here today," Smith told the crowd in a widely shared clip. "But that’s not going to stop me from being on this Miss Kansas and from representing as the next Miss Kansas. Because I, and my community, deserve healthy relationships."
Last week, Smith shared a clip of her remarks on Instagram, writing further about how they connected to her platform of “Respect Reclaimed.”
“On the night of Miss Kansas, my journey took an unexpected turn when someone I have been healing from tried to disrupt my peace,” she wrote. “Instead of falling into silence, I chose to live out my vision for a better world. I took back my power—not just for myself, but for my dreams and everyone watching and listening.”
Smith has not named the individual she identified as her abuser.
“My family, every single woman in my family, was impacted by domestic violence,” she told news outlet KSN. “At the age of 14, I got in my first relationship, but it was also an abusive relationship that I was in until about 2018, 2019. It’s something that I’m still experiencing and dealing with today.”
“I took advantage of the Miss Kansas Organization, which truly focuses on empowering women,” she added. “And me, being a woman who needed that empowerment all my life, being a bystander to domestic violence, a victim, a survivor, and now an advocate as well as a young woman who is educationally driven, I have the opportunity not only to share my story on such a large scale but also go back to school.”
