Just two years on from being named Miss Colombia, aspiring model Michelle Rouillard uses a nude photo-shoot for SoHo magazine as an opportunity to reveal all about the ugly world of beauty pageants.
According to the 23-year-old Cauca stunner, who won the Miss Colombia competition in 2008, life as a pageant winner can be tough and wearing the crown doesn’t necessarily bring all the perks one might expect.
“Miss Colombia can never eat or drink when she’s at an event,” reveals Rouillard listing the ‘rules’ of the beauty pageant game, “there cannot be a photo of Miss Colombia in which her feet are not placed together, one on top of the other.”
“The four finalists have to wear the same clothes that they were given in Cartagena all year,” said the young Miss Colombia, complaining that far from being the window into the fashion world that she expected, the beauty competition in fact prevented her from having any part in the industry. Sponsorship of the event had Rouillard imprisoned in just a select few gowns.
“They didn’t let me into any fashion event in the country. I wanted to go to see the work of a designer friend and they didn’t let me in.”
The competition provided the model with too much fame and zero fortune.
Rouillard received so many phone calls a day that the chime of her cell entered her nightmares, “I had to take my cellphone into the bathroom with me … 24 hours they had the right to call me,”
And the worst thing was that after so much stress, Miss Colombia 2008 hardly received a dime for her hard work, forcing her to live with her aunt and uncle as she could not afford her own place.
But now, gracing the cover of one of Colombia’s biggest entertainment magazines, Rouillard hopes that modeling nude will be the first step to getting to wear the clothes that she wants.
To read the full interview with Michelle Rouillard, click here.
