Lupita Jones
During her more than 30 years at the helm of Mexico’s most famous beauty pageant, Lupita Jones experienced everything from the beauties of success after becoming the first Mexican in history to be crowned Miss Universe to the allegations against her by several former contestants .
Until a few years ago, Nuestra Belleza México managed to gather hundreds of thousands of families in front of their televisions, eagerly watching the entire process of crowning the supposedly “most beautiful woman in Mexico.”
But in recent years, the annual competition that awarded tickets to participate in “Miss Universe” has become increasingly less important, until in 2023 it was no longer broadcast on television, but only on the organization’s social networks, which until now had been broadcast The name was “Mexicana Universal”.
Finally, the new owner of the Miss Universe brand, Anne JKN, announced Lupita’s resignation as director in Mexico, assuring that the goal is to renew the brand in the country.
EXCLUSIVE I Anne JKN, owner of Miss Universe, explains the changes within the organization. Furthermore, in response to Lupita Jones’ accusations, he clarified that he is not diminishing his work, but that he wants to renew the franchise with something fresher. #Everything for women with @maxwoodside. pic.twitter.com/XStA9v1ktH
— Formula Group (@Radio_Formula) contradicted
An enviable career
On May 17, 1991, young Lupita Jones, originally from Mexicali, won the most important beauty title in the world, defeating the representatives of the USSR and the Netherlands.
From the first moment, the 21-year-old was among the favorites, thanks to her undeniable beauty, but also to the ease and confidence that she showed in each of the competitions, as well as the intelligence that she showed when answering the questions to the day laid. Questions from the jury.
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Just two years after the end of her reign, Lupita founded and directed Nuestra Belleza México, the new competition that would select representatives from Miss Universe, Miss World and Miss International.
Her alliance with Televisa allowed her great influence, since participation in “Nuestra Belleza” meant for the participants a very important spotlight to promote their careers, as was the case with actresses of the caliber of Jacqueline Bracamontes, Yadhira Carrillo and Luz Elena González.
Her golden moment as head of the beauty pageant was in 2010, when she was finally able to crown another Mexican, Ximena Navarrete of Guadalajara, as Miss Universe.
The beginning of the end
But in 2017 she lost the support of Televisa and Lupita began a pilgrimage that took her to TV Azteca and Imagen Televisión, where she failed to consolidate her new project, already under the name “Mexicana Universal”.
Despite everything, she was able to give Mexico a new “Miss Universe” in 2021 with the victory of Andrea Meza.
This year, the national competition was not broadcast live or delayed by any television channels and could only be followed via the organization’s social networks.
But Lupita had to face another big problem: the allegations of abuse and mistreatment of some participants, including two winners of “Mexicana Universal”, Sofía Aragón and Denisse Franco.
When Aragón accused Jones of not supporting her at all in her preparation for Miss Universe in November 2020, the board went into uproar. He gathered all the finalists for a live broadcast on YouTube and exploded against the young woman.
“I know where they all come from… from drug addicts to alcoholics, I know where they come from and what foot they are limping on. “Lots of stories and I have them all to tell,” he threatened.
Days later, Lupita apologized. “In the last few days I have had one of my worst public appearances, showing myself as an aggressive, violent woman, without compassion and without sisterhood,” she admitted in a video.
Yesterday Lupita published a message in which she acknowledged that the rumors about her departure seemed to be true and regretted the lack of transparency in the decisions; He even assured that these problems were the reason why Melissa Flores, Mexico’s representative at Miss Universe 2023, was eliminated in the first round and did not advance to the final.
Next year, the international Miss Universe competition will be held in Mexico, marking a significant boost for an event that once enjoyed great popularity among the national public.
But it will no longer be Lupita who will lead the organizing efforts, but rather former Miss Mexico Cynthia de la Vega, who was introduced by the new owner of the Miss Universe license in the country, businessman Raúl Rocha Cantú.
A replacement that sounds like revenge, since in 2011 Jones removed de la Vega from his “Our Beauty Mexico 2010” crown.
