Pageant Dressing Room Intrusions: Trump's Self-Described Practice of Walking In on Contestants at Miss Universe, Miss USA, and Miss Teen USA
Tier 3Documented1996-01-01 to 2016-10-12
Factual Summary
Donald Trump owned the Miss Universe Organization, which included the Miss Universe, Miss USA, and Miss Teen USA pageants, from 1996 to 2015. During that period, multiple contestants reported that Trump entered dressing rooms while contestants were undressed. Trump himself described this practice in a recorded 2005 interview with radio host Howard Stern, providing first-person confirmation of the behavior before any contestant made public accusations.
In the 2005 Howard Stern interview, Trump stated: "I'll go backstage before a show and everyone's getting dressed. No men are anywhere, and I'm allowed to go in, because I'm the owner of the pageant and therefore I'm inspecting it." He added: "They're standing there with no clothes." Trump described this as a deliberate practice enabled by his ownership position, not as an accidental encounter. The recording was released by CNN in October 2016.
Former Miss Arizona USA 2001 Tasha Dixon told CBS that Trump entered the Miss USA dressing room while contestants were in various states of undress. Dixon stated: "He just came strolling right in. There was no second to put a robe on or any sort of clothing or anything. Some girls were topless. Others girls were naked." Dixon described the experience as making contestants feel they had no recourse because Trump owned the pageant.
Additional contestants from the Miss USA pageant corroborated Dixon's account in interviews with multiple news outlets. Former contestants described a pattern in which Trump would enter the dressing area unannounced, and contestants felt they could not object because of his ownership position.
Four former contestants in the 1997 Miss Teen USA pageant told BuzzFeed News that Trump walked into their dressing room while they were changing. Mariah Billado, a former Miss Vermont Teen USA, stated: "I remember putting on my dress really quick because I was like, 'Oh my god, there's a man in here.'" Miss Teen USA contestants were between the ages of 14 and 19 at the time. The allegations regarding the teen pageant are particularly significant because some of the contestants were minors.
Trump's on-the-record statement to Howard Stern specifically referenced his adult pageants (Miss Universe and Miss USA), and fact-checkers have noted that his recorded comments did not explicitly reference the teen pageant. However, the allegations from Miss Teen USA contestants constitute separate testimony about the same described behavior occurring at the teen competition.
Primary Sources
1. Howard Stern interview with Donald Trump, 2005, released by CNN in October 2016
2. Tasha Dixon (Miss Arizona USA 2001), interview with CBS, October 2016
3. Mariah Billado (Miss Vermont Teen USA 1997), interview with BuzzFeed News, October 2016
4. Additional contestant accounts published in multiple outlets, October 2016
Corroborating Sources
1. Rolling Stone: "A Timeline of Donald Trump's Creepiness While He Owned Miss Universe," October 2016
2. ABC News: "Former Miss Arizona Says Donald Trump Would Walk In on 'Half-Naked' Contestants," October 2016
3. Newsweek: "Beauty Queens Claim Donald Trump Came into Pageant Dressing Rooms Unannounced," October 2016
4. Snopes: "Trump Admitted Entering Changing Rooms of Beauty Pageant Contestants?" (verified as true), July 2024
Counterarguments and Context
Trump's campaign did not directly address the specific contestant allegations when they emerged in October 2016. Some defenders argued that the Howard Stern interview reflected Trump's tendency toward exaggeration and bravado rather than a description of actual events. Others noted that the Stern comments referenced adult pageants with contestants 18 and older, and that extending them to the teen pageant requires reliance on separate contestant testimony. Regarding the teen pageant allegations specifically, no legal charges were filed, and some former contestants stated they did not recall Trump entering the dressing room. PolitiFact and Full Fact have noted that Trump's recorded comments to Stern did not reference Miss Teen USA and that the connection to the teen pageant rests on contestant testimony rather than Trump's own statements. Critics responded that Trump's own recorded words constitute an unambiguous admission of the practice at his adult pageants, that multiple contestants independently corroborated his account, and that the teen pageant allegations from separate witnesses describe the same behavior at a competition involving minors as young as 14.
Author's Note
This entry is classified as Tier 3 because the core behavior is documented through Trump's own recorded statements, which were made voluntarily in a broadcast interview and constitute a first-person account of intentionally entering dressing rooms while contestants were undressed. The contestant testimony corroborates and extends his own description. The distinction between the adult pageants (where Trump's own words serve as primary evidence) and the teen pageant (where the evidence consists of contestant testimony) is noted in the factual summary for accuracy.