Francesca Hung turned away by modelling experts for four years before breakthrough
THE Sydney model who will represent Australia in the Miss Universe contest is fed up with the criticism and has a message for haters.
Confidential
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IF you don’t like it — don’t watch it.
That’s the fiery message to pageant panners from newly crowned Miss Universe Australia Francesca Hung.
The 24-year-old Sydney model and sociology graduate has spent a lifetime not fitting in and has had it with haters.
“With a beauty pageant, if you don’t agree with it or you don’t want to see girls strutting around in bikinis, then you don’t have to watch it,” Hung, who took the title last weekend, said.
She’s also scathing about the condescending criticism levelled at contestants.
“We have chosen to be in this for a reason. It makes us feel empowered and strong and beautiful,” she said.
“It is our choice, and I think people need to allow others to have their choice.”
Despite her striking looks, Hung, whose mother is Irish-Australian and her father Chinese, said she always felt like an outsider while growing up on Sydney’s northern beaches.
“I went to quite a Anglo-Saxon school and I never felt like I quite fit in,” she said.
“Then when I went to uni, there were so many international students … they found me really Australian.”
Hung suffered years of rejection by modelling agencies before she was signed by Scoop.
“For four years, I was turned away,” she said.
“That really built up my resilience.”
Hung will vie for the Miss Universe title later this year.