Miss France Winner Eve Gilles Defends Her Pixie Haircut From Critics

Beauty queen Eve Gilles just had the most graceful response to the haters.

After the 20-year-old won the Miss France 2024 competition on Dec. 16, it was believed she made history for winning the pageant with a pixie haircut. But the celebration was short-lived after people started criticizing the beauty queen's look.

"We're used to seeing beautiful Misses with long hair, but I chose an androgynous look with short hair," Eve said, per U.K. newspaper The Independent in an article published Dec. 18. "No one should dictate who you are."

As she put it, "Every woman is different, we're all unique."

The Miss Universe organization showcased their support for Eve, while also shining a light on how they want contestants to stay true to themselves.

"There is no one way to be Miss Universe or Miss France, and we embrace every look that comes across our stage," a spokesperson for Miss Universe said in a statement to People. "We represent the times, and being your confident unique self is the one thing we see being reflected in all of our winners."

In fact, the organization noted that the Miss Universe pageant in November featured contestants with diverse hairstyles.

"We saw personal styles and hair of all types," the spokesperson continued, "and we love it! Short, long, curly."

In addition, Eve also received support from other public figures.

"So, in France, in 2023, we measure the progress of respect for women by the length of their hair?" French politician Sandrine Rousseau wrote on X, formerly Twitter, while politician Karima Delli called Eve "intelligent for embracing her diversity" with her pixie cut.  

It's clear people are hair for Eve's response to the backlash. But of course, she isn't the only beauty queen to be the center of criticism. Keep reading to see all of the pageant scandals that shook the competition to its core.

Miss USA 2018 apologized to Miss Cambodia Rern Sinat and Miss Vietnam H'Hen Nie after controversial comments surfaced on Instagram. "I said something that I now realize can be perceived as not respectful, and I apologize," she later explained. 

The daytime talk show host announced the wrong winner during the 2015 Miss Universe pageant telecast. After mistakenly naming Miss Colombia Ariadna Gutierrez Arevalo as the winner, he quickly took the stage again to reveal he had made an embarrassing mistake and misread the ballot card. The real winner was actually Miss Philippines Pia Alonzo Wurzbach.

The former Miss Pennsylvania U.S. International was arrested for faking her cancer diagnosis. 

The Colombian singer cancelled his upcoming performance at the 2015 Miss USA pageant after hearing Donald Trump's controversial comments on Mexican immigrants.

The reigning Miss Zimbabwe was stripped of her title after nude photos of her surfaced on an app in 2015.

Miss Delaware Amanda Longacre was stripped of her crown for being too old at the tender age of 24. During an emotional interview with Today, she pleaded, "It's not fair!"

Miss Nevada USA went on to win the title of of 2014's Miss USA. Almost immediately after getting her crown, Nia was accused of faking residency in Las Vegas in order to compete in the state of Nevada. She firmly denied this, saying there was "no truth" to this report.

The 22-year-old stepped down after receiving criticism over political remarks she made on Facebook before the contest.

Miss Universe 2012 was accused of violating India's Heritage Act after allegedly doing a little commercial modeling without permission in front of the Taj Mahal.

Miss Delaware Teen USA gave up her crown after a video surfaced of a woman alleged to be her, showing the mystery lady engaged in sexual acts with a male partner. King, however, vehemently stated that it is "absolutely not" her in the video.

Miss Pennsylvania resigned from her position, saying the inclusion of transgender contestants "goes against every moral fiber of my being" and accusing the pageant of being rigged. Trump subsequently sued the brunette beauty for defamation, and the result was anything but pretty for Monnin: A judge ordered her to pay Trump $5 million in damages.

Times are a changing, that's for sure! After transgender Miss Canada hopeful Talackova was DQ'd from her country's pageant, Miss Universe officials changed the rules for the 2013 pageant and are now allowing transgender women to compete for the crown.

Oops! The 26-year-old beauty queen, who became the first Arab-American Miss USA two years ago, pleaded no contest in April 2012 to a DUI charge after she was arrested for drunken driving in Michigan late last year.

Miss Colombia is missing her panties! The 2011 Miss Universe contestant raised eyebrows and got a talking to when it became, um, evident that she wasn't wearing undergarments at some events.

The show known for featuring tiny tots dressed up as beauty queens went a little too far for the Parents Television Council when it featured a three-year-old dressed up as Julia Roberts' hooker character from Pretty Woman.

During the 2009 Miss USA pageant, Miss California's response to a question about gay marriage not only sparked a public debate and media firestorm, but it also ensured tons of free publicity for the pageant, Prejean and, most important, Donald Trump. The pageant honcho famously allowed her stay on before firing her for violating her contract.

The first black Miss America was stripped of the title after racy photos of her were published in Penthouse. But the disgraced beauty queen remade herself into a successful singer and actress, achieving a level of fame most former pageant winners can only dream of.

Stripped of her Miss Nevada title over her own spicy photo scandal, Rees has since been outspoken about what she claims was a double standard that cost her the crown—while others in similar situations, such as Prejean, retained theirs.

Hours after being declared Miss California, Silva was stripped of her sash due to what was called "an accounting error." She sued, claiming a racial bias in her ouster, but later dropped the suit.

Trump also came to the aid of this Miss USA, who copped to drinking, drug use and other conduct unbecoming before agreeing to rehab and keeping her crown.

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