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 countries, I became a shell of my former self,” she wrote in an essay for People.
Cooper began running to help her mentally, competing in three marathons before accepting a position with the Army Recruiting Division, where she found a purpose in service.
“As I traveled coast to coast, talking to thousands of the brightest, most motivated young people in the country, I continued to find hope in the human spirit. What I didn’t expect were the many people who found hope in mine,” she wrote.
Theilvig took Cooper’s place on Friday, crowning Nebraska representative Audrey Eckert as Miss USA 2025 at the Grand Sierra Resort.
“Tonight I am here with a lot of mixed emotions, it’s gonna be my last national coronation and the last show. I’m filled with gratefulness and happiness but I’m also really emotional tonight,” Theilvig said in an Instagram post.
Eckert, a 23-year-old graduate of the University of Nebraska-Lincoln, beat out first runner-up Miss USA New Jersey, Ivy Harrington.
The Miss USA pageant faced several scandals in the last year and a half, including a major leadership restructuring last month.
The internal conflict began in May 2024 when both Miss USA titleholder Noelia Voigt and Miss Teen USA UmaSofia Srivastava resigned their crowns.
Srivastava claimed her personal values “no longer fully align with the direction of the organization.”
Insiders told The Post at the time that Voigt and Srivastava have been wearing thorny crowns for months — forced by iron-clad contracts to silently smile despite “harmful workplace conditions.”
The organizations were forced to crown previous runner-ups before Cooper was crowned Miss USA 2024.
The drama came to a climax in September when CEO Laylah Rose was replaced by longtime coach and judge Thom Brodeur as the new chief executive, chairman and president of Miss USA and Miss Teen USA.
“We are bringing a transformational vision rooted in technology, media and fan engagement to modernize and revitalize these titles for the next generation of powerhouse women and their worldwide fan base,” Brodeur said in a statement released by the Miss Universe Organization, which oversees both Miss USA and Miss Teen USA.
The leadership overhaul delayed the Miss USA coronation several months from its ordinary August schedule to October, just under a month before Miss Universe 2025 is set to kick off in Thailand on Nov. 21.
