Miss Universe 2021 Harnaaz Sandhu talks about being bullied. Image Source: Newsy
Harnaaz Sandhu who represented India at Miss Universe 2021 competition was crowned Miss Universe 2021 at the end of the event finale which was conducted on December 13th, 2021 at the Israeli Red Sea resort town of Eilat. Former Miss Universe Andrea Meza of Mexico crowned her. Harnaaz beat Miss Paraguay 2021 Nadia Ferreira and Miss South Africa 2021 Lalela Mswane to win the title. Harnaaz Kaur Sandhu recently opened up to People magazine about being bullied online and how it affected her.
Harnaaz Sandhu, who currently lives in her New York City apartment, shared that she has gained weight since she was crowned back in December, but she does not mind the change, but clearly, the internet does. She explained that physically she has kind of grown, gotten more pounds, and increased in terms of weight, but she is comfortable about it.
Miss Universe 2021 shared with the publication that she was bullied for gaining weight and that the bullying was surprising and uncomfortable for her as she did not expect so many people to have opinions on how she looks and comment on her pictures on social media. Harnaaz shared that people find it so hard to believe that it’s never about how one looks but how they are from the inside, how they treat people they interact with, and what they believe in.
Harnaaz shared that while she was preparing for the competition, she was focused on her goal, which was to win the crown, and did not care much about her health as she was on a strict diet and exercise plan at the time. The model shared that the whole time she, along with her team, was working out, and doing so many activities, and after winning the crown, she had a month just to relax, and during that time she did not work out or restrict herself from eating anything because she did not realize that the routine would start catching up and start showing up on her body.
Harnaaz Sandhu, who created history by being India’s first Miss Universe after 21 years, said that some of the comments that she read had brought tears to her eyes because they were so cruel and stated that she had broken down so many times and sometimes at unexpected times, like when she was about to walk on-stage for something and suddenly she would remember the comments or the thought that people have opinions on how she looks.
Harnaaz was diagnosed with allergies she never knew she had and mentioned during the interview that she has a gluten allergy, which means she cannot have wheat or anything that has wheat in it, and soy and coconut allergies too. The pride of India revealed that she is allergic to eggs, which she realized when she came to New York. Harnaaz mentioned that eggs are considered a non-vegetarian food in India but vegetarian here, so it took her a while to realize she was eating things she was allergic to.
Miss Universe 2021, Harnaaz Sandhu, says that with time her mindset has changed and she has gone through that phase of her life where she used to feel bad about things, but now she has started to love everything, along with realizing that crying is not a sign of weakness and it’s okay to feel not okay at times. Talking about looks, Harnaaz mentioned that human beings are imperfect and they need to realize that there is a point where they need to embrace themselves no matter what, and once it’s done, anything in the world can be conquered.
