When Voight and her mother returned to the U.S., they ran into more problems. As part of the title, Voight expected to receive a $100,000 salary, a luxury car and an apartment in Los Angeles to live in for the duration of her reign. That seemed like a reasonable expectation: During the Miss USA telecast, one of the hosts rattled off a list of the winner’s prizes, including an apartment and a car. Rose wrote in an email that Voight’s contract included a salary but no other prizes were guaranteed.
Still, Jacquelyn Voight said, Rose told Voight in December that the organization had secured a new apartment for her. That never happened, and Voight, who had already moved out of her Utah apartment, ended up staying with friends and family. She confided in her pageant coach, Tom Brodeur, about her housing situation; he jokingly called her the “homeless Miss USA,” Brodeur said.
Finally, in March, Miss USA offered Voight a car and a home in Miami.
That wasn’t enough. Two months later, Voight resigned. Her internal resignation letter, obtained by The New York Times, detailed allegations that she didn’t receive her apartment and car on time. She wrote that being Miss USA had affected her health, adding that she suffered from anxiety and took medication to control the symptoms.
She also spoke about a sexual harassment incident in which her driver made inappropriate comments during last year’s Christmas parade in Sarasota, Fla. Jakelyn Voight said her daughter asked, “Are you interested in rich, older men?” Voight wrote in her resignation letter that the organization did not support her when she reported the incident.
In late May, Rose responded to Voight in a 10-page letter obtained by The Times, in which he denied Voight’s accusations and accused him of waging a “smear campaign” against the organization. Rose wrote that he discussed the matter with Voight “immediately” after learning of the Christmas parade incident.
“You have indicated that you have no need or desire to seek compensation,” Rose wrote.
Miss Teen USA, Ms. Srivastava, also had a tense relationship with the Miss USA organization, and particularly Ms. Rose. Her mother, Barbara Srivastava, said in an interview that Ms. Rose could become aggressive in email correspondence with her daughter, who was 16 at the time. (Ms. Rose described her daughter’s communication style as “professional and appropriate.”) Ms. Srivastava declined to comment, citing non-disclosure agreements.
