Miss Universe Canada Jamie VandenBerg said she was several months pregnant when she competed in last year’s Miss Universe pageant.
The 29-year-old beauty queen revealed that secret in an ad for car seats she posted on Instagram.
“What the world didn’t know: I was 16 weeks (4 months) pregnant when I competed in swimwear and placed Top 30,” she wrote.
Vandenberg won the Miss Universe Canada competition — which featured a “best body” contest that sparked debate for its very existence — to represent her country in the Miss Universe 2025 pageant.
“Today, it feels freeing to share this: I am pregnant,” she posted Tuesday.
The most recent Miss Universe competition didn’t lack drama.
Several contestants walked out of one ceremony when the eventual winner, Mexico’s Fátima Bosch Fernández, was called “dumb” by a pageant executive and escorted away by security, according to E! News.
Miss Jamaica Gabrielle Henry fell off the stage during a preliminary competition and was hospitalized with a brain bleed.
VandenBerg finished in the top quarter of more than 120 contestants at that event and called it an honor to enjoy her Miss Universe Canada reign as a mom.
“With the evolving rules of Miss Universe, may this placement stand as proof that motherhood is not the end of ambition, and pregnancy is not a limitation,” she said on Instagram. “With a strong community behind you, multiple dreams can exist at once.”
The 75th Miss Universe pageant takes place in Puerto Rico in November.
