How Miss Universe Australia Francesca Hung beat online haters

Model Francesca Hung knows all about the highs and lows of fame, glamour and social media. She was crowned Miss Universe Australia 2018 and then made global headlines while competing in Miss Universe International — but not for the right reasons. Now she’s moving on after an online backlash from a viral video.

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Last year was a whirlwind for Sydney girl Francesca Hung. She was crowned Miss Universe Australia in June and, six months later, made global headlines while competing in Miss Universe International — but not for the right reasons.

The 24-year-old was caught on a video — which went viral — along with Miss USA and Miss Colombia talking about Miss Cambodia’s and Miss Vietnam’s inability to speak English.

The conversation was heavily criticised. The hugely popular Instagram fashion account Diet Prada called the comments xenophobic and ignorant.

“If I had my time over again, I definitely wouldn’t be a part of that video and, if I had my time again, maybe I would have said something to Miss USA in that moment,” Hung tells BW Magazine.

Francesca Hung dealt with a huge online backlash after the Miss Universe International viral video incident. Picture: Rohan Kelly

“It’s really difficult, you’re going live to 200,000 people and you don’t know who you’re talking to.”

Hung placed in the top 20 in Miss Universe International and admits a nagging thought about what impact the video had on her success.

“I was annoyed and upset and angry and kept thinking if it has affected my place … (but) I’ll never know and I can’t dwell on that,” she says.

“I definitely regret what happened and would go about it differently now. Even if you might be saying something nice about a person, it can be taken out of context.”

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The attention on the video was at odds with the message of diversity and acceptance the Chinese-Australian brunette beauty hoped to promote in the Miss Universe competition.

“I’ve spoken about mental health before and I went in the competition to talk about race, cultural diversity and mental health and I would never, ever want to hurt anybody publicly or online like that,” she says.

“I spoke to Miss Cambodia the day that video went viral. I was so fearful that she would have thought I meant any malice by what I said. But she just looked at me and we were crying and hugging and she was so upset with her Cambodian fans for attacking me.”

Francesca Hung was crowned as Miss Universe Australia in June 2018, with 2017 Miss Universe Australia Olivia Rogers. Picture: Andrew Tauber

Hung herself has struggled with comments about her Chinese heritage growing up on Sydney’s affluent lower north shore. And, as a beauty queen, she understands the impact of bullying better than many.

“I grew up in Mosman so it’s a predominantly white suburb — I always felt like an outsider being Eurasian,” she says.

“I was the only Eurasian girl at my school … growing up in these suburbs, people would call me their token Asian friend.”

Looking at Hung’s social media feed, it’s easy to imagine young girls being envious of her glowing complexion, billowing locks and vibrant eyes.

But she says there was a time when she would have given up anything to trade them for blonde hair and blue eyes.

Francesca Hung has a Chinese-Australian background. Picture: Rohan Kelly

“I really wanted to fit in and look like the other girls,” she says of her childhood.

“I did watch the Miss Universe competitions growing up and I saw the likes of Jesinta Franklin, Jen Hawkins, Rachael Finch and I absolutely admired them. I wanted to be like them and I wanted to look like them.”

Hung has spent much of her life looking for the right hat to wear. She describes a childhood in which she felt stuck in a limbo between being Chinese and being Australian.

“Mum used to say ‘It will be different when you get out into the real world and half the population will be Asian, then you will feel like you’re a part of that’,” the publishing major says.

“I feel like going into university a lot of the international students would look at me and I was just the Aussie girl. I wasn’t part of their clan either and I didn’t speak any Chinese. I remember feeling this isolation.”

It was only at 18 that she decided to forget the hats and look for a crown to wear instead.

She first felt the pull of stardom when her best friend began modelling.

Francesca Hung as a 14-year-old aspiring model.

But when Hung decided to try her own luck, she was rejected by every agency.

“She was the leggy blonde and I really wanted to do it as well,” she says.

“I was like, ‘That’s not going to stop me.’ So, I went out on my own and started to create content on Instagram and organise shoots with photographers.”

She built a following and returned to the agencies for a second chance — but, again, almost all said no.

Except for one.

“I was turned away from all of them except by my Scoop family who still represent me to this day,” she says of her agency.

At 21, her long-awaited dream finally had some hope of coming true: She had been signed by an agency and was learning the ropes of the glamour industry.

But soon, Hung gave it all up.

That childhood fear of not fitting in that had stayed with her in her teens was once again reflected when she looked at photographs of herself.

“It got to a point where I was modelling and I would see a photo of myself on the screen and I couldn’t look at it. I ended up taking myself out of modelling for a while just so I could mature and learn how to deal with all the negative pressure I was putting on myself,” she says.

Francesca Hung is following her modelling dream. Picture: Tim Hunter

Hung says she struggled with depression in the highly impressionable years between 18 to 21 but says taking the time out to improve her mental health is the reason for her success today.

“A couple of years ago I struggled with depression … I was putting so much pressure on myself to do well. I wanted to be really successful (so) I wasn’t very kind on myself,” she says.

“For a lot of young girls going into the modelling industry, it can be so soul-destroying.”

It’s this dual-edged nature of fame that has prompted Hung to be more careful in her social media interactions.

While building a following helped her start out in the industry, the negativity she faced in recent months was also damaging.

“I have a lot more respect for celebrities because they receive so much negativity … social media is evolving but it’s tricky … you’re a lot more vulnerable,” she says.

“I had to realise that no matter who you are, these days you could do anything and someone could portray it as something negative. So, you have got to do your own thing and not worry about too many trolls.”