Former Miss USA Cheslie Kryst, who plunged to her death by jumping from Midtown high-rise on Sunday morning, was apparently suffering from depression and shared her problems and worries in life in a touching essay last year. Kryst, 30, in the heartbreaking essay spoke about the challenges of growing old and the trauma faced due to constant trolls.
According to murder enforcement sources, Kryst, a 30-year-old lawyer who won the 2019 pageant, leaped from her luxurious 60-story Orion building at 350 W. 42nd St. around 7:15 am. She was found dead on the sidewalk beneath her apartment building by passersby.
Succumbing to Pressure
According to the New York Post, Kryst was going through a lot of problems in her life lately as she feared that her career was coming to an end. She feared that she was growing old and would soon run out of work.
Months before her death she wrote all these in an essay wherein she expressed her desire to "leave everything to her mother." According to insiders, the former Miss North Carolina left behind a statement stating that she wished to leave everything to her mother, a previous pageant contender who was awarded Mrs. North Carolina in 2002.
However, it was in March 2021, where she shared her ongoing challenges in life in a lengthy essay in Allure.
In the heartbreaking essay she shared how she nearly worked herself to death and how she was even sent "vomit emojis" in trolls. "Each time I say 'I'm turning 30,' I cringe a little. Sometimes I can successfully mask this uncomfortable response with excitement; other times, my enthusiasm feels hollow, like bad acting," Kryst wrote.
"Society has never been kind to those growing old, especially women. (Occasional exceptions are made for some of the rich and a few of the famous.)," she continued.
All Was Not Well
Kryst was worried that her career was ending. She was 28 years old when she was crowned Miss USA, the oldest woman in history to win the pageant. She wrote in the essay that while many cheered her win, many diehard fans of the pageant also immediately started writing petitions for the age limit to be lowered.
"A grinning, crinkly-eyed glance at my achievements thus far makes me giddy about laying the groundwork for more, but turning 30 feels like a cold reminder that I'm running out of time to matter in society's eyes — and it's infuriating," she wrote.
"You'd think after a year like 2020, we'd have learnt that growing old is a treasure and maturity is a gift not everyone gets to enjoy," Kryst continued.
She added, "I've fought this battle before, and it's the struggle I'm currently fighting with 30." "How do I defy society's unyielding conventions when I'm up against the ticking clock?" "What happens when 'immovable' meets 'unstoppable?'" is an age-old question.
In the essay, she also goes on to talk about her excellent academic achievements, including earnings a law degree and an MBA at Wake Forest University at the same time.
"I joined a trial team at school and won a national championship. I competed in moot court; won essay competitions; and earned local, regional, and national executive board positions," Kryst wrote.
She also noted that she won her title with a "five-foot-six frame with six-pack abs" and a "head of natural curls" while "pageant girls are supposed to be model-tall and slender, don bouffant hair, and have a killer walk."
Understandably, Kryst was alone in her last days. In the note left behind by her, according to sources cited by the NY Post, Kryst said that she "wanted to leave everything to her mother".
Kryst concluded her reflective essay by stating that she spent her milestone birthday "parading around in a black silk top, matching shorts, and a floor-length robe while scarfing down banana pudding and screening phone calls" in her apartment.
Also, Kryst in her recent TikTok videos said that she no longer wanted to practice law because she was tired of continual microaggressions and a lack of diversity.
She admitted to a viewer in a video six days ago that she struggled to satisfy billable hour standards, and that it felt like she was "trading in hours of my life to get compensated."
Kryst's body was discovered near The Orion, a 60-story apartment building on Manhattan's West 42nd Street where she lived on the ninth floor.
