An adventure that will remain forever engraved in his memory. On the night of November 18 to 19, 2023, Diane Leyre defended the colors during the Miss Universe competition, organized in San Salvador. To everyone’s surprise, the 26-year-old young woman did not manage to make it to the top 20 and attended the coronation of Sheynnis Palacios, Miss Nicaragua. Despite everything, Miss France 2022 keeps smiling and only remembers the positive from this experience on stage. For Gala.frDiane Leyre agreed to look back on her journey.
Gala.fr: On the night of November 17 to 18, you represented France in the Miss Universe competition. What do you remember from this experience?
Diane Leyre: Whether with Miss Paris, Miss Ile-de-France and Miss France, I have always won this type of competition on the first try. So for Miss Universe, I remember the failure. It’s important for me to talk about it because I want to have a speech that can help young people. Ultimately, failure doesn’t mean I lost. It just means that I didn’t achieve this goal and that it opened up others for me. Today, even if I don’t come back with the title of Miss Universe, I don’t consider myself a loser. Being on the Miss Universe stage was a huge victory for me because I never knew how to catwalk. Having gone to another country, at the end of the world, where I spoke English and Spanish all day is also a huge victory. To have been favorite for so long and to have been supported is just huge. I didn’t think I would do all this one day in my life. We always learn from our failures. Until the end, I forced myself to believe in victory. Even when I thought I wouldn’t go through with it, I always tried to convince myself otherwise. I said to myself: “You are going to win, and if not, you will notice”. And so, I notified (she laughs).
Gala.fr: How did you experience the fact of not be in the 20 finalists ?
Diane Leyre: I felt it from the preliminary show. I completely failed this test. I’m pretty realistic about what I do. Until the end, I wanted to believe that I could bring something else to Miss Universe thanks to my speech. However, this competition relies heavily on the parade stage. It’s not my primary card but I did my best to pass this test by taking 25 hours of catwalk lessons. Unfortunately, that’s how it is. Latinas are already moving their hips in their mother’s womb. Me, I’ve always been rigid and I can’t do anything about it (she laughs). I felt a pang in my heart, not necessarily for me, but rather for the people. This is the first time that France was so much in the favorites. So everyone was super shocked. Afterwards, I tell myself that it is a source of pride because I have succeeded in reviving the international spirit in our country. I just had the impression of not going all the way for the French.
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Gala.fr: After the Miss Universe competition, you received a lot of criticism on social networks. How did you experience these remarks?
Diane Leyre: My heart ached at this wave of hatred. It was really hard. I had never experienced this cyberbullying before. I received more than 2,000 hate messages. It wasn’t people who were disappointed. It was truly pure hatred. Since Miss France, they haven’t let me go because I wasn’t first in the audience. I received a lot of messages on a daily basis during my first six months of reign. It had calmed down a year and a half ago. And there is the return of this frustration. I really didn’t think I would receive such nasty and hateful messages. Of course, I’m criticized for being bad on stage, but I’m mostly criticized for being me. Psychologically, it’s hard to accept. But it is okay !
Gala.fr: A notable moment remains your parade in traditional national costume. You wore an ensemble created by the Moulin Rouge. What was your reaction when you discovered your outfit?
Diane Leyre: I was like crazy! In fact, that wasn’t the original idea at all. I had in mind a costume all in flowers that was linked to the song La vie en rose by Édith Piaf. But it was very complicated to make. So, we went to see the Moulin Rouge. At first they gave me another one. He was very handsome but not what I expected. And there, they showed me the famous costume. I said to myself: ‘Oh damn, the thong! Is dared. I’m not very comfortable with my body and here, I’m going to take a step forward. I’m doing Miss Universe, so I do it to the fullest and I push myself to my limits’. Never in my life did I think I would find myself on stage in a thong. I faced it and I took responsibility for it because the goal of this participation was to come out of it stronger. Just to have paraded in a costume of this prestige, worn by great dancers from the Moulin Rouge and to have found myself a little naked in front of millions of people who come from everywhere, I had the feeling of having done something I will never be able to do again in my life. That alone was a win!
Gala.fr: What is your best memory of Miss Universe?
Diane Leyre: When we did the rehearsals, there was the singer John Legend who came to “revise”. So we had the right to a private concert. There were only twenty of us! John Legend was a meter away from me! There are some who pay a lot of money to be with 3,000 people, and there were only twenty of us looking at him with wide eyes. I remember, I ran to be at the front. It’s the first time in my life that I was at the front of the class (she laughs).
Photo credits: Miss Universe/SIPA