The vice president of the Miss USA pageant was apparently forced to step down last year after some very serious allegations of sexual harassment involving contestants.
Max Sebrechts left his job as VP of the Miss USA pageant back in January 2021, and according to a bombshell new report just published by DailyMail.com it wasn’t by choice! Sebrechts, a former male model, is married to Crystle Stewart (pictured above), who’s been the national director of both Miss USA and Miss Teen USA. Yeah, THAT Crystle Stewart. Those in the pageant world know how important she is.
So you can see how powerful Max’s position is. That makes any inappropriate behavior with these contestants doubly problematic — as there’s every worry he could potentially have used his influence to affect the outcome of pageants, if he got what he wanted. Add that to the other recent Miss USA scandal, which very much involves his wife, and… Well, the whole thing is starting to look corrupt as hell, quite frankly.
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According to the outlet, it all started after a contestant complained Sebrechts (pictured above, inset) invited himself into her hotel room and tried to kiss her. Gross. That complaint was just the first domino. It soon came out that Sebrechts allegedly sent inappropriate messages to other pageant girls, including telling one she was his “favorite” and promising to help her become Miss USA.
At the time of his exit in January of last year, the org claimed it was due to a “structural change.” But a whistleblower has since reached out with claims of the alleged misconduct. The anonymous complaint, first emailed to officials back in June, also copied multiple Miss Universe execs and leaders from the group’s parent company, Endeavour, as well.
In the anonymous complaint, the whistleblower claimed Sebrechts had been “hitting on” 2021 finalists and using his influential position in a “disgusting display and abuse of power.” At one point, he invited one girl to come to his hotel suite at an Oklahoma resort during a competition to see the “spectacular” views from his window.
That contestant spoke to the Daily Mail about the situation, recalling what happened at the River Spirit Casino Resort in Tulsa. She says that after declining his invitation, he showed up unannounced and uninvited to her hotel room with a dress to drop off. After staying a while, he got up to leave, and then twice attempted to kiss her “on the corner of the mouth.”
The contestant recalled:
“I remember freezing in that moment. I knew that it was something that should not be happening. The only thing that was going on in my head was, ‘Are you stupid? You are not only the co-owner of this organization, you are married to Crystle Stewart.’ Crystle is an icon in the pageant world. She was my personal icon.”
OMG…
Also attached to that whistleblower’s anonymous reveal was a graphic cell phone video. In the clip, an unidentified male could be seen “masturbating and groaning with pleasure.” The Daily Mail reports they have since learned that the video was sent to a pageant contestant back in 2018. The outlet contacted the video’s alleged recipient, who confirmed she received the explicit content after first meeting Sebrechts at a Miss Texas USA competition a few years back.
According to the outlet, the woman first noticed Max’s eyes during the 2016 competition:
“I remember specifically thinking it was weird that all of us girls were backstage waiting to go on and Max and Crystle were back there with us. We’re basically half naked. I remember all through the rehearsals that whole week he kept staring at me.”
Her hopes of taking the Miss Texas title were dashed after she failed to make the top 16. That night though, she claims, Sebrechts messaged her on Facebook to console her:
“I went home devastated that I didn’t place and I got a message from him on Facebook messenger at like midnight. He was saying like, ‘Oh you were my favorite. You should have placed top five, what happened out there?'”
Over the next decade, the pair chatted “periodically” online about pageant things and other topics. Then, in January 2018, Sebrechts allegedly got in touch with her to ask if she was dating anyone. He was the one to suggest a “no strings attached” affair, according to the outlet, writing:
“And of course this is all between us ok”
The Belgian national allegedly wrote to her:
“The thought of imagining you in those tights without underwear has quite an effect on me.”
The woman, who is now 28 years old, recalled how she tried to first deflect the advances. She claims to have written back:
“Well that escalated quickly, lol. Honestly Max I’m flattered. You’re a very attractive and successful man. But what about your marriage?”
Soon the conversation allegedly turned sexual. And about a month later, the news org notes, Sebrechts is alleged to have sent the woman an email with the attached cell phone video of a man playing with himself on a bed and “groaning with pleasure.” He can be heard in the video saying:
“Oh God I’m so hard … I want you to be here”
Ugh…
The former contestant made clear these exchanges were consensual at the time, and that she also sent him explicit content back. However, years later, she regrets the interaction, citing the power dynamic making it exploitative:
“Around that time I was very young and impressionable. I think he knew the power he had in that position, especially considering that a lot of girls look up to Crystle and he used that.”
Speaking of Crystle, it appears Sebrechts’ eight-year marriage is over. An insider close to Stewart claimed she ended things after first finding out about the sexual harassment allegations. Now, “Max is out of the picture” both in her personal life and with the pageant world.
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Stewart has her own issues, too. She and her Miss Brand franchise are currently suspended from Miss Universe competition shows after separate allegations she rigged this year’s Miss USA final. Stewart has strenuously denied those claims — but they are now resurfacing amid Sebrechts’ alleged sexual harassment issues.
A source spoke to the outlet about the alleged rigging scandal and asserted it was actually helping to hide the “sexual predator operating” in their midst:
“This is not just about rigging, it’s not just about favoritism. Why the f**k are you not talking about the sexual allegations? They are hoping everyone looks the other way and misses the real scandal — that there was a sexual predator operating in a prominent position within Miss USA and they barely did anything about it.”
Wow.
Pageant contestants and those around the industry are understandably upset over how this scandal has played out — and how hush-hush Sebrechts’ removal was when it now turns out serious things were allegedly going on behind the scenes.
Stewart has not yet commented on the latest bombshell reporting. However, she could be heard on a recently-leaked audio clip of a phone call she held with state pageant directors back in January of this year. In the clip, Stewart counsels the state directors on how to “armor” themselves against allegations about Sebrechts’ conduct.
At one point, she says:
“Is this the easiest thing to do, no. I want to make sure that you can speak and say, no, a thorough investigation was done, it was definitely taken very seriously, almost went to jail. Will I know what’s on [the emails], yes, so if there’s something against me so be it.”
Stewart also addressed the allegation from the one contestant who claimed Sebrechts kissed her in that Tulsa hotel room:
“He went into the hotel room to speak with her. They talked. When he hugged her goodbye … she felt uncomfortable. Hearing it was uncomfortable for me. It doesn’t sit right and these young ladies shouldn’t feel uncomfortable, period.”
And she continued:
“What’s been going around that’s not true is that contestants had sex with him … Max voluntarily stepped down. Even if he didn’t volunteer it was going to be enforced by myself.”
Jeez.
Stewart also tried to walk back allegations of Sebrechts showing favoritism to certain girls. She cautioned the state directors about seeming objective, and addressed her concerns with the claims:
“One said to a contestant ‘looking good’ and the other one was saying that ‘you are my personal favorite and we’re doing everything that we can for [contestant’s name] to win Miss Universe so you can be Miss USA.’ Should they have been sent, absolutely not … It could be ‘hello how’s your mom.’ Direct messages should not be sent to contestants especially from the vice president of the organization, period.”
True enough, no messages should be sent. But there’s a BIG difference between the appearance of impropriety and actual full-on cheating — which is what one of those sounded like!
You can hear the recording of that call, which was first published earlier this month by YouTube vlogger Natly Denise, in the video (below):
Damn!
Now, a “close pal” of Stewart confirmed to Daily Mail that Sebrechts “no longer has anything to do with her pageant empire.”
The insider also claimed the ex-couple only speaks to each other in order to co-parent their two young children. Clearly, Stewart is trying to quickly distance herself from her ex.
Yeesh. What a story!
What do U make of it, Perezcious readers?
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