MISS UNIVERSE 2025: A CROWN WON IN A STORM

Amid chaos, Fatima Bosch's defiance became the beauty pageant's defining moment

- BY MANJUSHA RADHAKRISHNAN | Entertainment, Lifestyle and Sport Editor

Let's be honest: the 2025 Miss Universe pageant may go down as the most controversy-soaked edition in the competition's 74-year history.

From backstage clashes and walkouts to judges resigning like dominoes, this year's spectacle in Bangkok was less “Power of Love” and more “Game of Thrones.”

And in the middle of this televised tempest stood one woman — Miss Mexico, Fatima Bosch — who refused to shrink, refused to be silenced, and ultimately refused to let intimidation dictate her destiny.

That courage is the real crown.

It all erupted two weeks ago when a livestream of a senior pageant executive berating Bosch went viral. The clip, now viewed millions of times, showed him chastising her over a photoshoot she allegedly refused to join — a claim she denied.